CBS News’s decision to hire former Trump administration official Mick Mulvaney as a paid on-air contributor is drawing backlash within the company because of his history of bashing the press and promoting the former president’s fact-free claims.
But a top network executive seemed to lay the groundwork for the decision in a staff meeting earlier this month, when he said the network needed to hire more Republicans to prepare for a “likely” Democratic midterm wipeout.
“If you look at some of the people that we’ve been hiring on a contributor basis, being able to make sure that we are getting access to both sides of the aisle is a priority because we know the Republicans are going to take over, most likely, in the midterms,” CBS News’s co-president Neeraj Khemlani told the staff of the network’s morning show, according to a recording of his comments obtained by The Washington Post. “A lot of the people that we’re bringing in are helping us in terms of access to that side of the equation.”
www.washingtonpost.com/...
Mulvaney was closely involved in the Trump–Ukraine scandal.[120][121][122][123][124][125] In an October 17, 2019, press conference, Mulvaney said that military aid to Ukraine was in fact tied to President Trump's demand for an investigation into the 2016 election.[12][126] Several hours later, in a statement released by the White House, Mulvaney sought to deny or reinterpret his earlier statements,[13] stating "there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election".[127][128]
en.wikipedia.org/...
In April 2018, Mulvaney told a room of banking industry executives and lobbyists that as a Congressman he refused to take meetings with lobbyists unless they contributed to his congressional campaigns.[47] He said, "If you are a lobbyist who never gave us money, I did not talk to you. If you are a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you."[47] At the top of the hierarchy, he added, were his constituents: "If you came from back home and sat in my lobby, I talked to you without exception, regardless of the financial contributions."[47]
On December 14, 2018, Trump named Mulvaney as his acting White House chief of staff beginning in the new year.[104] Prior to Trump's election, Mulvaney had characterized the future president as a "terrible human being,"[105][106] said he would be disqualified from office in an "ordinary universe,"[107] and described Trump's views on a wall on the US-Mexico border as "absurd and almost childish".[108] On March 6, 2020, President Trump named Congressman Mark Meadows as Mulvaney's replacement.[109]
In March 2019, Mulvaney said, "every single (health care) plan that this White House has ever put forward since Donald Trump was elected covered pre-existing conditions."[115] The Associated Press described the claim as "misleading" and PolitiFact rated this assertion "mostly false", stating that all the health care proposals supported by the White House would have weakened protections for individuals with preexisting conditions, and led to gaps in health insurance coverage and higher premium rates.[115][116]
In February 2020, Mulvaney suggested that the media was exaggerating the dangers of COVID-19 in order to "bring down" President Trump.[117]
On March 6, 2020, Trump tweeted that Republican North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows would succeed Mulvaney as White House Chief of Staff.[109] Meadows began serving at the end of March, thus replacing Mulvaney.[118]
Mulvaney wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal three days after election day, saying "If He Loses, Trump Will Concede Gracefully: He'll fight hard to make sure the results are fair, and in the end he'll accept the result whatever it is."[119] Trump did not actually do so after his loss in the 2020 United States presidential election.
Mulvaney was closely involved in the Trump–Ukraine scandal.[120][121][122][123][124][125] In an October 17, 2019, press conference, Mulvaney said that military aid to Ukraine was in fact tied to President Trump's demand for an investigation into the 2016 election.[12][126] Several hours later, in a statement released by the White House, Mulvaney sought to deny or reinterpret his earlier statements,[13] stating "there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election".[127][128]
On January 22, 2020, Mulvaney released a series of heavily redacted Office of Management and Budget (OMB) emails revealing details about how the OMB worked to carry out the freeze of aid for Ukraine.[129][130]
en.wikipedia.org/...
