CNN Responds to Candidate’s Charge of ‘Shameful Reporting’

By Mark Joyella 

CNN’s Jake Tapper addressed sharp criticism from a former Congressional candidate who says a report that aired on Tapper’s The Lead was a “smear.”

The former candidate, Carl DeMaio, has called on CNN to correct the story, reported by Chris Frates, that featured a former campaign staffer’s accusations he was sexually harassed by DeMaio.

The nine-minute-long investigative story aired at a critical time, just weeks before the mid-term elections. DeMaio went on to be defeated. Politico reports the accuser, Todd Bosnich, plead guilty Friday to obstructing justice and now faces 20 years in prison. DeMaio was cleared of sexual harassment charges in October.

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DeMaio demanded CNN correct its reporting:

“I am also calling for CNN to correct the record of their shameful reporting. Investigative Reporter Chris Frates went on Jake Tapper’s show to irresponsibly broadcast Bosnich’s lies in the last days of the election. Sadly, Frates and CNN editors were given the same exact evidence that the FBI was given and yet ignored it.”

This afternoon, Tapper delivered an “update” on the story, bringing on Frates to report “the latest twist” in the story. Noting that prosecutors did not rule on the truth of the sexual harassment charges–and that CNN’s story did not deal with a faked email that was at the core of the obstruction charge, Frates reported that Bosnich stood by his claims of sexual harassment.

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