CNN effort to debunk Shirley video and White House claims is an epic fail

As we noted in our last report, the mainstream media, as well as leftist journalists, are doing everything in their power to undermine the report by Nick Shirley, which the White House jumped all over to attack Democrats. CBS at least put some effort into its story, but the CNN effort was a complete and utter joke.

Now the network is getting torched on social media for it.

CBS News

CBS News went right after Shirley’s video, downplaying the situation right out of the gate.

The report claimed, “While Shirley's video focused on allegations of fraud in daycares in Minneapolis, federal investigators told CBS News child care is only ‘vaguely’ a priority for prosecutors, and attention and resources are instead focused on more than a dozen other social services programs in Minnesota, including nutrition, housing and behavioral health.”

Now, think about that statement.

We are talking about $9 billion in possible fraud, and they are telling us this is barely on their radar?

Firing Back

Shirley took a lot of hits from CBS News. Now, his video was very amateurish, as I have stated, and some of it was over the top, such as the closing segment.

Even some of the neighbor statements seemed rehearsed, but there is no doubting the obvious fact that these businesses were empty. On that front, the video was quite explosive.

CBS News’ Jonah Kaplan claimed, "We visited those sites too, as did state inspectors many times over the last six months, and we found the facts on the ground tell a different story. Those daycares, many of them were written up for safety violations, things like maybe busted equipment or staff training issues, but that's not the same as being fraudulent, so it's important to put all of this into context."

The report did not show them visiting the sites, however, which is why Shirley fired back, "Why don’t you go to a daycare yourself, and you will see it first hand. Or you can just keep yapping on selfie mode.”

CNN

CNN correspondent Whitney Wild spent more time with Shirley than she did checking out these businesses, or at least it appeared that way in her piece.

Wild justified her criticism of Shirley by stating, "Only one daycare facility answered and said they are a legitimate business.” Now, she called several businesses, so instead of investigating those, she merely referenced the one business that did answer and took them at their word. That is not journalism. Fox News’ Laura Ingraham responded, "No one on earth is surprised that CNN appears to side with Somali fraudsters."

Benjamin Weingarten added, "So CNN's angle here is to try and discredit @nickshirleyy while patting authorities for pursuing fraud on the back. But hilariously, two minutes in, the network buries the lede. ‘We reached out to several of the daycares featured in the now-viral video. Only one daycare facility answered and said they are a legitimate business.’ Just take the one person's word for it.”

And people wonder why CNN continues to struggle with ratings.