RedState reported Thursday on how CNN’s “fact-checking” division had hit rock bottom, with so-called “reporters” and “fact checkers” on the struggling news network actually using President Joe Biden denying he had a role in the Dept. of Justice’s targeting of former President Donald Trump in the classified documents probe as “proof” that he played no role.
As we also noted, leading the way in trying to pass off Biden’s claims as “facts” was the most prominent member of CNN’s “fact-checking” team, Daniel Dale, who proclaimed during a back-and-forth exchange with his partner in crime Jake Tapper that there is “no indication, no evidence whatsoever” Biden had a hand in the charges against Trump:
CNN "fact checker" @ddale8 spreading misinformation: "There is no indication, no evidence whatsoever that President Biden is somehow behind these charges" against Trump pic.twitter.com/3S2hT2FlvQ
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 14, 2023
It was a statement that didn’t quite hold water considering that back in September, more evidence was revealed that lent credence to the claim that Biden was indeed involved, as my colleague Nick Arama documented at the time.
Here we are a week later, and Dale – who in the past has denied there are any partisan motivations behind his fact checks – has in my opinion given up the game, as evidenced by a tweet he posted Wednesday to Twitter in which he tagged a Delaware gun control group and asked for their help with a fact check he was working on regarding the state’s red flag laws:
@DeCAGV Hi there, I'm a CNN reporter. I'm looking to check a fact regarding Delaware's red flag laws, and I'm confident you know the answer. Would you be able to follow me for a DM or email me your contact info at [email protected]? Thank you!
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 21, 2023
“DeCAGV” is the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence, who just recently have tweeted things like “@SenBlumenthal just reminded us that the Sandy Hook class can VOTE in 2024. Can we even imagine what is about to happen?” and also “Thank you, @JoeBiden. A strong majority of Delawareans support gun safety policies and investments — which is why we’ve elected you every time your name has been on a ballot. We are not finished, either.”
But back to Dale’s tweet, to be fair, it’s not uncommon for fact-checkers, the legit ones and the not-so-legit ones alike, to request comment and opinion from people and/or organizations related to the subject matter.
But Dale was doing more than that. He was “confident” the partisan outfit which displays its political leanings like a badge of honor on its Twitter page could give him the information he needed to complete his fact check on red flag laws in Joe Biden’s home state.
There’s a “yuge” difference in merely seeking comment from a partisan source to use in your articles versus expressing confidence in the knowledge base of a biased source from who you’re gathering information, and Dale clearly believes that anything the Biden-supporting gang at DeCAGV says is the gospel truth.
And speaking of Joe Biden, though Dale’s Twitter bio states that he is charged with “fact-checking the president,” he has not fact-checked Joe Biden in nearly 90 days.
What he has had time to do, however, is to fact check random Twitter users like Stephen Miller (@redsteeze), who he has spent more time focusing on over the last month or so than he has Joe Biden since, oh, the beginning of the year or so.
Miller, by the way, speculated that Dale’s upcoming “fact check” piece might have something to do with Hunter Biden:
Should we take a guess on what he's fact checking now based on the tweet?
Something along the lines of "Fact checking Republican claims of red flag laws on Hunter Biden in Delaware."
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) June 21, 2023
Considering the plea deal that was announced Tuesday, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if this was Dale’s way of riding to the defense of the President of the United States’ son.
After all, Democrat privilege and all that.
Update: Dale responded to my tweet with the following assertion:
Hi there. I was double-checking my belief that President Biden made a false claim about Delaware’s history on gun control legislation. This group knows the history, which is why I reached out, and was able to confirm that my understanding was correct. This is normal reporting.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 21, 2023
None of that negates the point that Dale leans into left-leaning organizations and trusts them as unassailable sources in contrast to being skeptical of claims coming from right-wing sources. Can you imagine him expressing the same “confidence” in the NRA? I don’t think so.
Flashback: CNN’s Daniel Dale Sounds the Final Death Knell for Fact-Checking
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