CNN's Stelter pushes ‘misleading’ Trump Covid ‘hoax’ quote hours after own network corrected

Chief media correspondent of CNN Brian Stelter posted a quote accusing US President Donald Trump of referring to Covid-19 as a “hoax,” despite his own network blasting a Joe Biden ad as “misleading” for saying the same thing.

It should come as little surprise, considering how often he criticizes the president, that the liberal author and television host would share the New Yorker interview with Olivia Troye, a former member of the White House coronavirus task force who is now going public with her criticism of Trump’s leadership during the pandemic.

When choosing a quote to go along with sharing the article, Stelter cited Troye saying, “It was shocking to see the president saying that the virus was a hoax, saying that everything was OK when it was not.”

The comment provides no specific firsthand knowledge into Trump’s work with the task force, but instead references a public, often misused, quote from the president at a February rally. 

The same quote was edited together for a Joe Biden campaign ad, one that even CNN had to factcheck and clarify. The ad shows Trump saying “the coronavirus” and then cuts to him saying “this is their new hoax.” A full 56 seconds of footage in between is deleted. That footage provides context and shows that the president is actually calling the Democrats’ criticism of his response to the virus “their new hoax” after attempts at impeachment went nowhere. The quote has been misused by others and corrected by other outlets, as well. 

Stelter’s tweet quoting Troye was posted nearly a full day after his own network made this correction. They had also tweeted the story out a mere three hours before he made his post.

While Stelter is not quoting the president directly, he is quoting someone else who is providing a “misleading” statement, one his own network had just corrected. Stelter issued no such correction.

Plenty of Twitter users have pointed this out to Stelter, who is, ironically, the author of a book about Trump and Fox News colluding called ‘Hoax’, but his tweet has remained, despite critics accusing him of spreading a “smear.”

Stelter even took to posting more about Troye in order to promote his newly released book. He tweeted out a video of her claiming Trump spent time talking to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson instead of taking action in an urgent task force meeting regarding Americans on stranded cruise ships catching Covid-19.

“When I turned in HOAX, I figured we'd later learn about even *more* shocking examples of Trump's Fox fixation,” Stelter tweeted along with the clip.

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