Michael Bloomberg’s 2015 comments defending stop-and-frisk sure sounded bad, but at least he’s got friends in high places to help mitigate the damage. One of these friends is CNN business and politics correspondent Cristina Alesci, who, coincidentally, used to work at Bloomberg Television.

According to Alesci, as damning as the audio is, there really isn’t any evidence that we should take it seriously:

In a VILE display of defending @MikeBloomberg's racism, @cnn responds to audio unearthed by @BenjaminPDixon that shows Bloomberg saying you stop crime by frisking minorities by… Attacking Dixon as a Bernie supporter, questioning how he got the audio—and what his motives are. pic.twitter.com/nBkBbPU6Kr — Jordan (@JordanChariton) February 11, 2020

So what if Benjamin Dixon is a Bernie supporter? Dixon didn’t manufacture the audio. Michael Bloomberg built that. Michael Bloomberg made that happen.

Hey @CNN morons: The audio has been on YouTube for five years because a local reporter posted it after Aspen Institute and Grassroots TV agreed to spike the video at Bloomy's request. https://t.co/hKC2TqUUxb — Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) February 11, 2020

Pathetic “journalism.”

Imagine CNN putting more time into vetting Ben’s twitter feed than into vetting Mike Bloomberg. The fact that Ben is a Bernie supporter has absolutely nothing to do with how racist stop and frisk is. This is shameful.pic.twitter.com/T5Czhn1i6i — blackness everdeen ? (@traceyecorder) February 11, 2020

In fairness, CNN’s Kate Bolduan isn’t so quick to dismiss the significance of Bloomberg’s comments. But Alesci’s desperate, knee-jerk defense of Bloomberg and attempt to smear the guy who dug up the audio is still a very, very bad look for CNN. A familiar look, but a bad one nonetheless.

I cant wait for the crack media watching team of @brianstelter and @oliverdarcy to report on this https://t.co/88GWwSV2AH — Jay Malak (@KobbeMalak) February 11, 2020

Just to be on the safe side, don’t hold your breath.