CNN has finally responded to the exploding scandal surrounding the far-left cable news channel’s revealing “border wall” interaction with San Diego TV station KUSI this week.

As my colleague Robert Kraychik reporter earlier, KUSI reports that the anti-Trump outlet contacted them looking for someone to come on the air and report about Trump’s border wall. CNN claimed it was looking for a local perspective on the issue.

According to KUSI, though, once CNN discovered that KUSI’s past reports look positively on the effectiveness of the local border wall, CNN ran away and wanted no part of that narrative.

To their great credit, KUSI took to the air to inform their audience of this on Thursday morning:

Thursday morning, @CNN called the KUSI Newsroom asking if a reporter could give them a local view of the debate surrounding the border wall and government shutdown. After we informed them about our past reports, they declined to hear from us. More info: https://t.co/RX4mB6EdNE pic.twitter.com/r0SAvWxFIm — KUSI News (@KUSINews) January 11, 2019

On Friday, CNN finally responded to the growing criticism, and mixed in with the last-place cable channel’s imperial tone, the statement is filled with fake news and confirmation of KUSI’s reporting.

“We called several local stations to book someone for a show. We didn’t end up booking any of them. That happens many times every single day,” CNN’s public relations team sniffed. “We did, however, book a reporter from KUSI for a story on immigration and the border wall in November. This is a non story.”

Because, you see, it is CNN that will decide what is and is not a story.

CNN closed the tweet with the haughty hashtag “#factsfirst” and included an apple emoji, which refers to the fake news network’s much-maligned “facts first” campaign.

So what we have here is CNN admitting to reaching out to KUSI and admitting to not booking anyone after hearing what KUSI had to say. But CNN is spinning this fact as a non-story, as a suitable explanation.

Oliver Darcy, who usually leads CNN campaigns to blacklist the network’s critics from social media, also ripped into KUSI with a tweet attacking Mike McKinnon, the president and general manager of KUSI, for daring to criticize CNN.

As you will see below, Darcy believes McKinnon’s personal tweets mean something, or something…

These heavy-handed CNN responses, though, really only raise more questions, such as: Why would an unbiased, objective, not-at-all left-wing news outlet not want to air both sides of the border wall debate — both pro and con?

CNN is stridently and openly against any border enforcement, against anything that would signal a political victory for Trump, so why would a news outlet that poses as objective not offer the other side the opportunity to express their thoughts, especially when that point of view could come from someone living in and reporting on a community living with a border wall?

The responses to Darcy’s tweet only further prove how all of this is backfiring:

You’re proving their point Oliver. — EducatédHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) January 11, 2019

John Berman was just arguing against the wall this morning. I dont think you can have Berman say the things he said then act like CNN would have actually considered running a "walls work" segment — Tim Pool (@Timcast) January 11, 2019

"lol we just didn't use them… it was totally NOT because they wouldn't say what we wanted them to say!" — Russell Flowers (@ChoralReave) January 11, 2019

How dense are you? — The Golden Age (@w0rd_salad) January 11, 2019

The responses to CNN’s tweet from the public relations department are even more brutal:

You decided that a story showing how well the wall works isn't relevant. Does that mean you are defending yourself with incompetence rather than malice? — Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) January 11, 2019

Hmm. Well, CNN certainly hasn’t represented this side of the story since the government shutdown. SURELY CNN didn’t opt out of this interview because it didn’t fit their agenda driven narrative. Funny CNN still masquerades as a news network. 😂 — Justin Cooper (@Justin_W_Cooper) January 11, 2019

So you admit you wanted to book them if you agreed with their reports, but since it didn't fit your narrative you cancelled? #hiddenfacts — JTWalsh's nephew (@NotJTWalsh) January 11, 2019

The primary question CNN cannot and will not answer is this: How does a 24/7 broadcaster not have time bring on a local news reporter?

Other than bias, there is simply no legitimate explanation for CNN to blow off KUSI, and CNN’s response has only accomplished one thing: It confirms KUSI’s Thursday morning report.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.