CNN
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The White House plans to send a letter to top U.S. news executives on Wednesday urging them to intensify their investigations of House Republicans after Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, even though there was no evidence of a crime.
“It’s time for the media to scrutinize House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies,” White House Counsel’s Office spokesman Ian Sams wrote in the letter, according to a draft copy obtained by CNN.
The letter, which said the baseless investigation “should ring alarm bells for news organizations,” will be sent to executives who head the nation’s largest news organizations, including CNN, The New York Times, Fox News and The Associated Press. A White House official familiar with the matter told CBS News and others.
The letter comes a day after McCarthy announced that he had ordered three House committees to open impeachment investigations into Biden. House Republicans, who deny that disgraced former President Donald Trump has done anything wrong, have long tried to baselessly paint Biden as a corrupt, crime-ridden politician.
While news organizations have published countless fact-checks on the matter, they have failed to strongly address the false and misleading information spread by Republicans in their coverage. The falsehoods that saturate public discourse must be eliminated.
In its letter Wednesday, the White House urged news outlets to be more specific in their coverage of the impeachment inquiry.
“To disguise impeachment as a procedural narrative — Republicans say X, but the White House says Y — is an affront to the American people, who rely on a free press to hold those in power accountable,” Sams wrote.
“In today’s media environment, where liars and stalkers spread misinformation every day and spread lies everywhere from Facebook to Fox, House Republicans’ failure to unravel the illegality of the claims on which all their actions are based helps create confusion. By putting false premises in people’s feeds, hiding the truth, ” Sams added.
McCarthy opened the impeachment hearings on Tuesday in an attempt to appease his far-right Republicans without a formal House vote.
There are Republican-led investigations into Biden No direct evidence has yet been provided The president benefited financially from Hunter Biden’s foreign career.
