We are told again and again to trust the media. Almost always it is media organizations telling us this. We are told to read the Washington Post because, “Democracy dies in darkness.” We are directed to watch CNN because they are the, “Most trusted name in news.”

Last week, however, CNN took a new bold step ,which has brought the cable network out from the sidelines to right, smack into the action.

It started when the network ran a story in which it is reported that in 2018 Bernie Sanders held a meeting with Elizabeth Warren, at her Washington, D.C., home. During the meeting, Sanders reportedly told Warren that a woman could not win the presidential race.

Nobody went on the record with CNN but the news outlet claims it heard the account from two people who were at the meeting and two more who knew about it. In other words, people in Warren’s inner circle spoke to CNN anonymously.

Then, Warren confirmed the account to CNN reporters, saying, “I thought a woman could win; he disagreed.”

Shortly after, it was time for CNN’s Democratic debate.

Moderator Abby Phillip went right at Bernie.

“Sen. Sanders, CNN reported yesterday, and Sen. Warren confirmed in a statement, that in 2018 you told her that you did not believe that a woman could win the election. Why did you say that?” She asked him.

Sanders was quick to shoot it down.

“Well, as a matter of fact, I didn’t say it,” He said. “I don’t want to waste a whole lot of time on this, because this is what Donald Trump and maybe some of the media want. Anybody who knows me knows that it’s incomprehensible that I would think that a woman cannot be president of the United States. Go to YouTube today. There’s a video of me 30 years ago talking about how a woman could become president of the United States.”

The moderator went right back at him.

“So Senator Sanders, I do want to be clear here,” She said, “you’re saying that you never told Sen. Warren that a woman could not win the election?”

“That is correct,” the Vermont senator said.

Then the CNN moderator addressed Liz Warren.

“Sen. Warren, what did you think when Sen. Sanders told you a woman could not win the election?” she asked her.

Gone was any qualification with Bernie’s response included. She simply dropped Bernie’s denial and took the report as rock-solid fact.

“I disagreed,” Warren said, before making a pivot to the larger issue of women in politics that culminated in a home run line about the political success rate of the women on stage in recent races. It was as if the whole thing was scripted.

When the debate wrapped up, a CNN anchor noted that Warren and Sanders had had an icy interaction at the close of the event. Video footage was played showing Warren refusing to shake Bernie’s hand as the two exchanged words.

The next day, CNN reported that the audio of the exchange had been picked up on a “hot mic,” and it was subsequently broadcast and distributed far and wide on social media.

“I think you called me a liar on national TV,” Warren is seen saying to Bernie as he unsuccessfully attempts to shake her hand.

“What?” He responded.

“I think you called me a liar on national TV,” she said again.

That’s all it took.

CNN claimed the audio was caught by clip-on microphones.

It is hard to believe. Only those two microphones had been on and not those of the other candidates? And why was the camera tracking only those two candidates? After the exchange, as Bernie spoke audibly to Tom Steyer, Warren exchanges pleasantries with Pete Buttigieg but that is somehow not picked up, even though the mic is still on.

More likely, a microphone affixed to a camera picked up the interaction, and it was all by design.

It is as plain as day that CNN has put itself into the candidate space in this election. They created a badly sourced story, they used it in the debate to allow Liz Warren to deliver a canned response and they contrived a post-debate encounter, tailor-made to benefit the Massachusetts senator.

This is worse than bad-faith journalism. This is a media campaign to artificially influence the news cycle in favor of a particular candidate and it is unethical and disgraceful. CNN tampered in 2016 and it looks like it is happening again.