Trump, Karoline Leavitt Denounce ‘Stupid’ Margaret Brennan: CBS News Host Accused of Doubling Down on Bias Despite New Owner

An embattled CBS News host, Margaret Brennan, is facing harsh criticism from President Trump and the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who says Ms. Brennan is “stupid” and made sure her imprecations regarding the news personality were “on the record.”Mr. Trump was interviewed by the Daily Caller’s White House correspondent, Reagan Reese, and ventured into one of his regularly discussed topics: his issues with the mainstream media.The president mocked the former host of the “CBS Evening News,” Norah O’Donnell, saying, “If they had Norah O’Donnell, anybody could do this. You could take 50 percent of the women off the street, they’d do just as good. Pay her $12 million a year, and she’s not going to be there very long. But if she’s not already out, I mean she’s pretty close, I would say she’s pretty close, but, the other ones too.” Ms. O’Donnell was removed from the news anchor position earlier this year in a cost-cutting move, and is now a “senior correspondent” for CBS News. The new format of the “CBS Evening News,” featuring the vastly lower-paid duo of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, has been a ratings disaster.“The woman on ‘Face the Nation’ is so bad,” Mr. Trump said of Ms. Brennan.The CBS News personality Margaret Brennan on her program, ‘Face the Nation.’ CBS NewsMr. Trump asked Ms. Leavitt what she thinks of Ms. Brennan.“She’s stupid,” Ms. Leavitt said. “You can put that on the record.”Mr. Trump chimed in, “She’s nasty.”“I watched it with Marco [Rubio]. He handled her,” Mr. Trump said. “But the level of hatred, I’m surprised he goes on there, the level of hatred when they’re asking the question.”The CBS news personality Margaret Brennan spars with Secretary Marco Rubio on ‘Face the Nation.’ Paramount Global Ms. Brennan has been a target of conservatives who say she exhibits hostility and a left-wing bias during her interviews with Republican officials. In October 2024, Speaker Mike Johnson complained after “Face the Nation,” hosted by Ms. Brennan, edited out comments he made in a pre-taped interview about President Biden’s response to Hurricane Helene.Ms. Brennan was also criticized after she chose to fact-check Vice President JD Vance during the 2024 vice presidential debate — despite the network’s previous promise that it would not engage in fact-checking — and declined to fact-check Governor Tim Walz. In February, the host once again found herself in hot water after she criticized Mr. Vance’s comments about free speech rights in Europe by making the bizarre claim that the Nazis “weaponized” free speech to carry out the Holocaust. More recently, Ms. Brennan was criticized after she interviewed Secretary Marco Rubio and suggested that European leaders traveled to Washington with President Volodymyr Zelensky because they were afraid that Mr. Trump would “bully” him into making a bad deal to end Russia’s war. Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan have been accused of exhibiting liberal bias during the vice presidential debate. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images“They’re coming here tomorrow because we’ve been working with the Europeans. We talked to them last week,” Mr. Rubio shot back. “This is such a stupid media narrative that they’re coming here tomorrow because Trump is going to bully Zelensky into a bad deal.”The persistent allegations of a left-wing bias come at a sensitive time for Ms. Brennan as executives at CBS News’s new parent company, Skydance Media, have vowed to address longstanding complaints of a liberal slant. The chief executive of Skydance, David Ellison, the son of the world’s second-richest man and a Trump supporter, Larry Ellison, told a far-left media reporter that he has members of his family who are Democrats and Republicans and he wants to create a news outlet that people on both sides of the political spectrum feel they can watch. Skydance has also committed to hiring an ombudsman for at least two years to evaluate complaints of bias at the network. As David Ellison has expressed a commitment to unbiased journalism, Mr. Trump has signaled he has high hopes for the future of the network.“CBS was just sold to a great person that I know very well. A great man, actually,” Mr. Trump said, seemingly about Larry Ellison, who bankrolled his son’s purchase of the network. “He just bought CBS, and I think he’s going to do the right thing with it.”Norah O’Donnell attends the 44th Annual News Emmy Awards at Palladium Times Square on September 27, 2023, at New York City. Cindy Ord/Getty ImagesThe complaints of bias may put pressure on David Ellison and Skydance executives to finalize their plan to hire the co-founder, Bari Weiss, of a pro-Israel, anti-woke outlet, the Free Press. Multiple reports indicate that Skydance is close to reaching a deal to buy the Free Press and bring on Ms. Weiss for a senior role at CBS News, where she would be expected to shape its news coverage. Mr. Ellison is also reportedly looking to hire a former CBS News executive, who is also a former Fox News executive, David Rhodes, to run CBS News. The complaints might also put pressure on the network to hire an ombudsman, which, so far, it appears it has not done, especially as the next season of “60 Minutes,” which ran weekly anti-Trump stories and was behind the damaging edit of Vice President Kamala Harris’s October 2024 interview that led to Mr. Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit, is set to begin on September 28. CBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment about Mr. Trump’s comments by the time of publication.

Trump, Karoline Leavitt Denounce ‘Stupid’ Margaret Brennan: CBS News Host Accused of Doubling Down on Bias Despite New Owner

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