CNN, a network that admittedly engages in propaganda, has tried and failed to debunk National File’s reporting on the violent BLM protest last week at the Iowa State Capitol.
Last week, National File, along with a number of other conservative news organizations, reported on the Black Lives Matter protest at the Iowa State Capitol on Thursday. These reports included images and footage of a protest turning violent, following the arrest of a high-school student, later identified as 18-year-old Josie Mulvihill.
However, CNN, the left-wing network, which Project Veritas exposed on Tuesday as admittedly pumping out anti-Trump “propaganda,” attempted to “fact-check” and “debunk” the reporting of National File and these other news organizations. As National File does not engage in such propaganda efforts, we now feel duty bound to correct the record on CNN’s article, which we judge to be misleading.
The article, entitled “Fact check: How a group of right-wingers spread a lie that Black Lives Matter stormed Iowa’s Capitol,” mostly focuses on two key points of language, that being “forced” and “stormed.” CNN argued that early reports from other media organizations lead to an implication that the BLM protestors had broken into the Capitol building, which was not the case, as the protestors had a permit to go into the building. National File did not imply the protestors broke in; although the term “storm” was used in our headline, a rowdy mob entering an area all at once would surely qualify for such a turn of phrase.
CNN, however, in their failed fact-check attempt, played down the violent scuffle that resulted during the arrest of Josie Mulvihill:
One protester was arrested and charged with assaulting an Iowa State Patrol officer. The officer claimed the 18-year-old high school senior “grabbed” and “pushed” him after she repeatedly asked for his name and badge number, causing him to momentarily lose his balance, and that other protesters behaved “belligerently” in response to the arrest. Other protesters told CNN that any physical contact with the officer was inadvertent and minor, that the arrest was unjustified and that the officer used excessive force.
The propaganda network did not link to video of the arrest, where Mulvhill can clearly be seen punching State Trooper Dylan Hernandez. Not only did they not do so, but one of their sources was an article from the Des Moines Register, which explicitly states that “video of the arrest circulating on social media does not appear to show Mulvihill push or grab Hernandez,” a factually incorrect statement. CNN had access to the footage in the article written by this reporter for National File, yet chose not to show it.
CNN was not the only outlet to choose not to show video in “fact-checking” our story. “The trooper said the teen was arrested after grabbing his arm, though other protesters told the newspaper said she did not grab him,” reported Politifact, yet again allowing readers to possibly interpret that the arrest was not warranted, despite an obvious assault on a law-enforcement officer having taken place.
I just spoke to Ashley Dorelus.
She tells me there was an arrest during what was suppose to be a peaceful protest at the Iowa State Capitol this afternoon.
She sent me this footage: pic.twitter.com/Cf64tMm4nT
— Tisia F. Muzinga (@TisiaMuzinga) April 8, 2021
UPDATE: New footage from the arrest of the woman clearly shows her punching one of the state troopers at the Capitol, debunking the narrative from the BLM protestors that she was arrested for "asking for their badge numbers" https://t.co/QL4Jrh9iIq pic.twitter.com/ACCs9BU2FW
— Jack Hadfield
(@JackHadders) April 9, 2021
Furthermore, by describing the protestors as simply “acting belligerently,” CNN brushed over their actions, when in fact the protestors can be seen surrounding and laying into the State Troopers during their justified arrest of Mulvihill, requiring the troopers to physically pull the protestors away during the arrest. The article claims that “heated” protests in the Iowa Capitol building are the norm, but that doesn’t debunk the fact that this protest turned violent.
CNN also failed to mention another key piece of reporting that National File picked up on. At one point during the protest, Cortez Rice, the nephew of George Floyd, and another man commented that people should “pull up” to the houses of elected officials. “We do that in Minnesota,” one man remarked. As far as National File understands, allegedly “peaceful protests” don’t often contain veiled threats of violence to public officials.
National File will continue to provide the American people real, factual news, and debunk any misleading stories published by the mainstream media.