CNN…what the hell are you doing?? Seriously! You were my network. I always had CNN on, whether watching or just for background noise. Many of the anchors were almost like friends. Maybe I should’ve seen the writing on the wall when you let Brooke Baldwin go…she was a fantastic anchor and journalist and it was the beginning of the end. Then of course hiring Chris Licht, and that absolutely irresponsible and devastating town hall with Donald Trump. I guess I see why you HAD to let Don Lemon go, but he was fantastic. But if Bill O’ Reilly and Eric Bolling still have careers, Don Lemon should have one too. You don’t end a career over one dumb remark.

That leads me to Jake Tapper. Ok, I’ve always been fine with Tapper. He’s been a fair and decent anchor. For the most part. He tries to stay fair, but he also calls out bullshit when he sees it. Which is why what he did when the Durham Report was released all the more surprising.

And I’m not the only one pissed at Tapper…take a look at Twitter and people actually want the man fired over his ridiculous assessment of the Durham report, which was something ordered by Bill Barr upon orders from Donald Trump. Trump wanted his name cleared, and told Barr to make it happen.

Tapper came under fire after he claimed the Durham Report was “devastating to the FBI and to a degree, it does exonerate Donald Trump.”

Umm, no it wasn’t.

Political commentator and former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann took issue with Tapper’s remarks regarding the Durham Report and the FBI and accused the CNN star of “propagandizing” Special Counsel John Durham’s findings.

“It isn’t. Not even close. No charges, just partisan ‘conclusions,’” Olbermann tweeted. “And Tapper of the new non-journalistic Chris Licht CNN is propagandizing.”

CNN's new scandal:@jaketapper says the Durham Report is "devastating to the FBI"

It isn't. Not even close. No charges, just partisan "conclusions." And Tapper of the new non-journalistic Chris Licht CNN is propagandizing

Jake Tapper needs to resign pic.twitter.com/EcJo6qwfA3

— Keith Olbermann↙️ (@KeithOlbermann) May 15, 2023

Barb McQuade, a former U.S. Attorney and current legal analyst broke down the report quite well on Twitter…better than I’ve seen anywhere else. It’s a bit long but this is all you will ever need to know about the Durham Report. This is it.

1 Durham Report is in. After four years, review of 1 million documents, 490 interviews, his conclusion is that FBI should have opened a preliminary investigation (PI) instead of a full investigation (FI) in 2016. THREAD

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

2 The only difference between FI and PI is the duration and the authorities that may be used. This is a hairsplitting quibble, and one on which FBI officials routinely disagree.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

3 Durham also minimizes the reasons FBI was alarmed enough to open a FI in 2016 based on information received from Australian diplomats about Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

4 According to Aussies, Papadopoulos said, “Trump team had received some kind of suggestion from Russia that it could assist this process with the anonymous release of information during the campaign that would be damaging to Mrs Clinton.”

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

5 Papadopoulos’s statement came right after the DNC hack. FBI was properly concerned about Russia’s efforts to influence the presidential
election. This was an investigation into RUSSIA.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

6 Trump had other concerning ties to Russians: real estate deals, Miss Universe Pageant, loans from Russian lenders, Trump Tower Moscow project. Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort had lobbied for pro-Russian oligarchs.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

7 Trump campaign members also had ties to Russia. Mike Flynn was paid $45,000 by Russia Today in 2015 for a speech he gave at a banquet where he sat next to Putin. He later lied to FBI about his calls with the Russian ambassador about sanctions during the transition.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

8 Carter Page had been seen meeting with Russian intel officers. It now appears that he was unaware that they were trying to recruit him. Papadopoulos worked to set up a meeting with Putin.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

9 Durham criticizes the FBI for relying on the Steele Dossier for the Carter Page FISA. Steele Dossier was not the basis for opening the investigation, but it makes for a useful scapegoat to blur that fact.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

10 We now know FBI was unable to corroborate the Steele Dossier, which contained explosive details about Russian kompromat on Trump. That’s 20/20 hindsight. And, importantly, Durham never says the information in it was false, just unconfirmed.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

11 In fact, some aspects of Steele Dossier were confirmed by Mueller and DNI: Putin favored Trump and was working to influence the election in Trump’s favor and against Clinton. It also contained unconfirmed information that could have seriously compromised Trump as president.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

12 Failing to investigate these ties would have been a breach of duty by FBI. This was an investigation into RUSSIA. Russia was the threat and the focus. Trump was just Russia’s useful idiot.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

13 Page FISA also was based on an e-mail altered by an FBI lawyer. That lawyer was identified by IG, not Durham, and he was properly convicted for making false statements. Mueller disregarded all aspects of Page FISA.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

14 In addition to criticizing the FBI for opening a FI instead of a PI, Durham also ignores other facts and helps advance the narrative that the Russia investigation was a hoax.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

15 Like Barr, Durham says Mueller found no conspiracy between Trump and Russia but fails to mention the 2016 Trump Tower meeting to receive dirt on Clinton, sharing of polling data with Russian intel officer Konstantin Kilimnik, and coordinating of messaging with Wikileaks.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

16 Durham also ignores Trump’s public statement, “Russia, if you’re listening …” asking them to find Clinton’s missing emails, and the subsequent release of hacked emails hours after the release of the Access Hollywood tape.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

17 The result of Durham’s four-year investigation is two failed prosecutions of bit players outside of government and a recommendation for FBI to hire someone to oversee their FISA work.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

18 But the Durham Report provides fuel for the false claim that the Russia probe was a hoax. Don’t fall for it. While Mueller found no conspiracy, he concluded that Russia worked to help Trump become president.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

19 And rather than report Russia’s overtures to FBI, Trump’s campaign was willing to accept the help.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

20 The only winner here is Russia, which succeeded in its mission to get its favored candidate elected, sow discord in the United States, and undermine public trust in American institutions.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 16, 2023

“The only winner here is Russia”. Thanks Jake.

Obviously Trump welcomed Special Counsel Durham’s findings and demanded former FBI Director James Comey and the Democrats be held accountable for the “long-running and treasonous charade.”

“I, and much more importantly, the American public have been victims of this long-running and treasonous charade started by the Democrats – started by Comey,” Trump told Fox News after the Durham Report was published on Monday.

“There must be a heavy price to pay for putting our country through this,” the one-term, twice-impeached, once-arrest former president added.

And on Twitter, people were livid with Tapper, and want him gone:

Multiple CNN personnel – most notably Jake Tapper – have posted tweets today regurgitating John Durham's false claims. CNN is now reaching Fox News level bullshit on a regular basis, and not surprisingly, that punk Jake Tapper is leading the way.

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) May 16, 2023

Wow. @jaketapper, how does this report “exonerate” Trump? He has insisted there was no Russian attack in 2016. But there was. And he and his campaign aided and abetted that attack by denying it was happening. Nothing in the Durham report undermines those basic facts. https://t.co/gwWypIlyx3

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) May 16, 2023

What's amazing is how all these career reporters were so willing to just start lying for money

— Hatter (@Randon7981) May 16, 2023

He’s the reason I stopped watching CNN back when the withdrawal from Afghanistan happened.

He was insufferable.

I have no regrets.

— Woke Francesca Diasio 🌺 (@Francesca1Diasi) May 16, 2023

Tapper and Cooper are vying to be the new Tucker, but on cnn. Trash.

— Mediocrity Perfected (@osu_cowboy) May 16, 2023

Tapper, after watching kaitlyn collins and anderson cooper ruin their credibility: "hold my beer!"

— jack dammit 🇺🇦🌻🇺🇦 (@jburt555) May 16, 2023

CNN has lost its way. Completely. There’s no there there… even Trump is angry there’s nothing there!

I’m not surprised anymore that @CNN is now touting lies, but it is disappointing.

— 💙 Liberal 💙 is a compliment! (@LadyBlueInCA) May 16, 2023

Tapper isn’t looking at the source, Durham was a hand picked hatchet man whose goal was to prosecute those that sought the truth about trump’s involvement with Russia. He ended a two plus year with squat no convictions, so he assigns blame to the FBI.

— verbatim411 (MA – Americans Studies – Penn State (@Verbatim411) May 16, 2023

Jake Tapper has always been a trumper. No Jake Tapper and @CNN it does not exonerate criminal trump. Tapper should be fired for this. I'm sure Fox news has a spot for him.

— Darla N 🟧 🟦🇺🇸🗽🇺🇦 (@Magga_DN) May 17, 2023

And it just reminded me of the time that former president Barack Obama said that “Jake Tapper left journalism to join CNN”.