Nunes: Media Hacks Aid Attempt to 'Overthrow' Trump

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, continued his anti-media rhetoric Friday (Nov. 15), saying that the Democrats were trying to "overthrow" the President, with the help of "media hacks."

That came in his opening statement for day two of what he called the "daylong TV spectacles" of impeachment hearings in that committee. He said Democrats were trying to "topple" a "duly-elected" President and branded the proceedings a farce.

He said that the only time the media cared about allegations of corruption regarding the Democratic Vice President was when they were trying to keep him from beating a political rival.

Nunes talked about Hunter Biden's position on the board of a "corrupt Ukrainian company," while his father was Vice President, but said: "The Democrats' media hacks only cared about that issue briefly, when they were trying to stop Joe Biden from running against Hillary Clinton in 2015."

On day one of the hearings, Nunes had called the media corrupt and a part of a Democrat vendetta against the President.

In both cases he was levying those charges to a broadcast, cable and online audience of millions both here and abroad, via outlets as varied as ABC, PBS, Fox News Channel, the BBC, and Al Jazeera. 

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.