This seems like a measured thing for a CNN contributor to say.

April Ryan, who’s rabid partisanship has clashed with White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders multiple times, was very incensed last night about a supposed “lie” that Sarah Sanders told. It revolves around the 2017 announcement of Comey’s firing and whether the “rank and file” really had lost confidence in him.

The Hill reports the details.

“The president, over the last several months, lost confidence in Director Comey,” Sanders said in an opening statement at the May 10 briefing. “The DOJ [Department of Justice] lost confidence in Director Comey. Bipartisan members of Congress made it clear that they had lost confidence in Director Comey. And most importantly, the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director.”

That last line is what apparently has everyone up in arms. Why? Because Robert Mueller, in all his glory, decided to try to entrap her over such a nominal statement. In the end, Sanders didn’t take the bait and said she it was just a slip of the tongue. To any normal person, they’d have accepted that Sanders was simply speaking off the cuff and that of course she couldn’t actually show that the entirely of the rank and file at the FBI had lost confidence in James Comey. For some reason though, Robert Mueller felt it was very important to press her on that detail and include it in his report, no doubt a nod to his former colleague.

It shows how petty and political much of the Mueller investigation was. Sanders saying the rank and file had lost confidence in Comey had nothing to do with Russian collusion or obstruction. It’s also a lesson in why talking to investigators is dumb unless you have to. They were clearly looking for any angle to entrap Trump associates and were clearly willing to deal in the irrelevant to do so.

Per Newsbusters, CNN’s April Ryan apparently took it personally and is now demanding Sanders be fired.

“Not only does she not have credibility, she lied. She out and out lied,” she declared as emotion welled up in her voice. “And the people, the American people can’t trust her. They can’t trust what’s said from the President’s mouthpiece-spokesperson from the people’s house. Therefore, she should be let go. She should be fired, end of story.”

The lack of self-awareness in that statement is comical. Ryan is a “reporter” who’s been caught fudging facts many times over the last two years. Her questions are always deeply biased and combative. Ryan even thought it smart to accuse Sanders of not actually baking a pie she tweeted about. As it turned out, Ryan was wrong and she later had to apologize for her ridiculous attack.

Not content with stopping her rant there, Ryan then took it a step further.

Things got very dark as Ryan rhetorically suggested that since there was “a lack of credibility there, you have to start and start lopping the heads off.” She added: “It’s fire me Thursday or fire me Good Friday. She needs to go.”

Can you imagine the outrage if a conservative commentator made such a statement about a Democrat? CNN doesn’t even bat an eye though. This is coming from the same people who insist simple disagreement is “inciting violence.” In fact, Ryan goes on to blame Sanders for threats against journalists after she suggested (checks notes)…Sanders’ head should be cut off.

Then on top of that, she says the press is fake when she’s faking reports from the people’s house. She’s calling us fake. We’ve had colleagues who have had to move from their houses because of threats. I have to have security because of being called fake and a loser and all sorts of things from that White House.

Logical consistency isn’t a thing for these people. The idea that calling out the press for false stories puts lives in danger is a farcical notion. But it’s accepted conventional wisdom at major networks and publications these days. Anything said against them is incitement and a threat to the 1st amendment. Yet, they can say whatever they want, get whatever stories wrong they want, and invoke imagery involving beheading Sarah Sanders and there’s no issue.

To be clear, I understand she was using a figure of speech and in a vacuum none of this bothers me. I also understand the New Rules imposed by these people and figure they should have to play by them. Seems only fair.

Ryan went to Twitter to sound off as well.

Liar, Liar dress on fire! The stakes are too high for folks to be making up stories and lying from the White House podium! Remember the propaganda video of Jim Acosta allegedly hitting an intern? Another fact, lying about “countless” fbi agents who lost confidence in Comey! — AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) April 19, 2019

Man, that’s some serious professionalism from the self-described journalist. I’ll note that Sanders never said Acosta hit an intern. She said he put his hands on her, which the video shows he did, whether Ryan thinks it was innocent or not. It’s also undeniable that he was acting like a pompous jerk by not just giving up the mic when asked.

April Ryan shouldn’t be anywhere near a press briefing room. This woman has repeatedly lashed out and said ridiculous things about Sarah Sanders. This is not even her first encounter with suggesting violence against Sanders. Ryan challenged Sanders to a street fight just last year. There’s room for honest disagreement without behaving this way. In fact, it’s the same kind of behavior that Ryan decries Trump for, which makes her fairly hypocritical as well.

This is one of the issues with all the self-righteousness that permeates Washington D.C. The truth is, no one is innocent, everyone spins, and all are working toward an agenda. Ryan wants to pretend she’s not in that category but she absolutely is. She’s not morally superior to Sanders. She’s just got a different narrative to push. Ryan never asked for Josh Earnest to be fired when he told a myriad of lies from the podium, including about healthcare and Iran. Demanding Sanders be fired is petty, and frankly, it’s not her place as a reporter. If she wants to do opinion journalism, go to CNN and ask for a show. They could probably use the help given their terrible ratings.

Today, CNN’s Brian Stelter whined that there hadn’t be a press briefing in 39 days. Perhaps he should ask himself why that might be.

————————————————-

Enjoying the read? Please visit my archive and check out some of my latest articles. I’ve got a new twitter! Please help by following @bonchieredstate.