Journalist and CNN contributor Kara Swisher has repeatedly downplayed the Twitter Files, the suppression of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story and have made many unproven accusations about many public figures.
Swisher came under fire Friday for suggesting there is “no proof” that tech companies colluded to suppress the New York Post’s story reporting on the existence of Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election, though it has been known that Big Tech communicated with the FBI to freeze the Post’s account and suppress the story. Swisher has publicly made several unproven suggestions about “X” owner Elon Musk and conservatives.
“There is no proof that tech companies colluded to do this, this is nonsense … I have been one of the biggest critics of tech, this is nonsense,” Swisher said, leading to pushback by CNN’s Scott Jennings. “Absolutely nonsense.”
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The New York Post’s account got locked for seven days by Twitter after they published an Oct. 15, 2020, story containing emails allegedly from Biden’s laptop indicating that he and his father, President Joe Biden, met with a Ukrainian executive from the oil company Burisma. The social media company also locked former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s personal account after she shared the story.
Swisher suggested without evidence that Republican nominee Donald Trump declined to participate in more debates with Vice President Kamala Harris because of his “cognitive challenges” during an Oct. 5 segment on “The Chris Wallace Show.”
“This last week, there’s been several appearances where his cognitive challenges are clear and so when he’s pushed in any way or when that debate happened with Kamala Harris he has issues,” Swisher said.
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During an interview with former CNN host Don Lemon in March, Swisher called the Twitter Files “a ridiculous waste of time” that never found evidence of suppression.
“I think [Musk] got so obsessed with those Twitter Files and found exactly nothing or small examples of stupid decision-making on the part of Twitter. But those Twitter Files were just a ridiculous waste of time for everybody because you never really find what you’re looking for,” Swisher said.
The Don Lemon Show episode 2: @karaswisher
TIMESTAMPS:
(1:55) Introducing Kara Swisher
(2:20) Elon Musk’s behavior in the interview
(6:35) Tech Giants and the Media
(9:37) Having a wide variety of views on Twitter
(14:35) Donald Trump and Politics
(18:35) Drug Use and Drug… pic.twitter.com/nybDGghrU4
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) March 20, 2024
The Twitter Files, which began in December 2022, were an account of Musk and journalists such as former Rolling Stone editor Matt Taibbi detailing how the former executives of Twitter intentionally suppressed the New York Post’s report on Hunter Biden’s laptop. Taibbi disclosed how the FBI warned Twitter of a potential “hack-and-leak” by “state actors” surrounding the laptop story to influence the 2020 presidential election, while journalist Michael Shellenberger found in mid-December that that the FBI paid Twitter nearly $3.5 million between October 2019 and February 2021 to compensate for the time employees managed the agency’s requests.
The prominent journalist told Lemon that Musk is “promoting” the great replacement Theory, a belief that lax immigration policies for non-white immigrants is an attempt to replace white people. Musk, who said he “does not subscribe” to the theory, has been accused of promoting the theory for stating that illegal immigrants are being brought into the U.S. to support Democrats.
“I look at what [Musk] tweets and look, at the very least, he’s promoting it for sure, and I haven’t seen him promote the other side which is this is nonsense,” Swisher told Lemon. “If he’s very interested in a real debate which he isn’t, he would promote both sides.”
Swisher and Lemon also both suggested that Musk was uncomfortable with him because he is “gay.”
The journalist chuckled at her co-host Scott Galloway’s joke about former first lady Melania Trump supporting the assassination attempt on her husband on July 13 during a July 16 appearance of her podcast, “Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway.”
“I don’t know if you heard, but right before Melania gave her public statement, she was heard yelling into a phone, ‘You had one job!’ Too soon?” Galloway said, right after criticizing conspiracy theories about the shooting.
“No, I like a joke. My favorite joke was the one where they said let’s hope it’s not a time traveler from the future who can’t shoot … Alright, we’ll stop with the jokes,” Swisher responded.
Swisher expressed her opinion that Fox and News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch of being “the single most destructive force in America, England and Australia” for allegedly having “created a sort of tsunami of disinformation” during an interview September interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. She referred to Fox News reaching a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in April 2023 over allegations that the network “deeply damaged” their reputation in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
“I actually think [Murdoch] is the most destructive force in America, England and Australia,” Swisher told Amanpour. “It’s a little bigger than that, but that’s stuff his publications have done and his power has done. But, it is in its waning days … Combined with gerrymandering, and social media, it’s created a sort of tsunami of disinformation, not understanding what truth and lies are, of tabloidism which I think has been around longer … But I think it’s really created this really cynical idea of facts.”
In media, Rupert Murdoch is “the single most destructive force in America, England and Australia,” argues @karaswisher, though the empire “is in its waning days.” He “created a sort of tsunami of disinformation… I would say it’s laziness, but I think it’s deliberate.” pic.twitter.com/Vl4KHde9Hb
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) September 28, 2023
Swisher also once accused NBC News’ Dasha Burns, without evidence, of playing into “GOP efforts” by stating that then-Democratic Pennsylvania senate candidate John Fetterman had difficulty making “small talk” during their interview in October 2022, suggesting Fetterman simply had a “bad day.” Fetterman suffered a nearly-fatal stroke in May 2022 that made it difficult for him to speak and process words at a normal rate.
Swisher didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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