James O’Keefe: We Taped Two Months of CNN Editorial Calls with Jeff Zucker

Jeff Zucker, Chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports and President, CNN Worldwide listens in
AP Photo/Paul Sancya

James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas released the first of its apparent audio recordings of CNN editorial calls with network president Jeff Zucker on Tuesday evening, promising more releases of what O’Keefe says is two months’ worth of CNN internal dialogues.

Earlier Tuesday, O’Keefe live-streamed what he identified as CNN’s morning call, as well as the reaction of the participants after he unmuted himself and revealed that he was listening.

As promised, O’Keefe began the first of his releases at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.

In one recording, CNN staff are apparently heard to agree that they should not provide President Donald Trump with a “platform” to contest the election results, claiming that the 9/11 terror attacks were partly a result of an awkward transition after the 2000 election.

In another recording, Zucker is apparently heard criticizing the president, apparently in October, saying that he is “acting erratically,” and claiming that CNN’s chyrons were “too polite” to him. (One chyron at the time claimed that Trump had been “spooked” by his coronavirus diagnosis.) Zucker is also heard apparently directing staff to target Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), whom he says “really deserves it.”

In another recording, a CNN executive is apparently heard accusing Fox News’s Tucker Carlson of being a racist, calling his program “White Supremacy Hour” and claiming Trump takes racist cues from him. (CNN claimed O’Keefe identified the wrong person.)

Earlier Tuesday, CNN communications tweeted that O’Keefe may have committed a felony.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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