CNN hires former Trump official to oversee its 2020 campaign coverage

CNN has hired a former Trump administration official and longtime Republican operative to coordinate its coverage of the 2020 presidential election.

Sarah Isgur has no experience in journalism, and most recently served as the spokesperson for the racist and incompetent Jeff Sessions, Trump’s former Attorney General. Yet Isgur has nonetheless been granted what Politico described as a “senior role” as political editor for the cable news network.

“Isgur has no experience in news but a long history as a political operative, most recently with the Trump administration and the Fiorina campaign,” Politico noted.

CNN’s new hire also has a history of attacking the press with phony allegations of liberal bias — including CNN, which she blasted in 2013 for accurately describing hosts at the conservative “Values Voters Summit” as “anti-gay” and “anti-abortion.” In 2015, Isgur also accused the media of acting as “lapdogs” for Hillary Clinton.

Isgur is just one of many shills for Trump who have been hired by CNN over the last few years. But unlike those other shills, who have joined CNN as commentators and analysts, Isgur will be in a position to make major editorial decisions about the network’s campaign coverage — even though Trump is already running for reelection in the 2020 campaign that Isgur will oversee coverage of.

She has been given this position at one of the most-watched and influential news outlets in the country, even though she has repeatedly lied to the news media on behalf of Sessions and the Trump administration.

Isgur’s then-boss Sessions lied to Congress during his 2017 confirmation hearings by saying he had not personally had any contact with Russian operatives when he was part of Trump’s 2016 campaign.

But he had. And even when it came out that Sessions had met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Isgur lied on Sessions’ behalf by insisting that “there was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer” to Congress.

In one appearance on CNN last year, Isgur used her position as the public face of Sessions’ office to promote a conspiracy theory, frequently pushed by Trump and other Republicans, that a joking text between two FBI agents was evidence of an anti-Trump “secret society” on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating Russian election interference.

Isgur wanted the inspector general, who conducts oversight of federal agencies, to issue a report on the text messages despite no evidence that they were more than a joke.

Before becoming Sessions’ spokesperson, Isgur worked for Carly Fiorina’s failed presidential primary campaign, the Republican National Committee, and Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. She also worked on Ted Cruz’s campaign for Texas attorney general and told the Harvard Crimson her political views were similar to his.

Isgur played a key role in promoting a blatant falsehood from the Fiorina campaign that Hillary Clinton supported abortion “up until the moment of birth.” Isgur cropped a quote from Clinton and presented it as evidence of the wild claim, which got four Pinocchios from the Washington Post fact checker.

Isgur further smeared Clinton by claiming Clinton had received “foreign donations” (a lie that can be traced back to Trump campaign boss Steve Bannon) and even accused her of stealing lines and ideas from Fiorina.

Isgur also promoted a series of hoax videos smearing Planned Parenthood, absurdly claiming that the organization “and its media allies don’t want you to believe” the content of the thoroughly debunked and doctored videos.

In the 2020 presidential race, CNN will be covering a wide and diverse field of Democrats seeking the party’s nomination. The eventual nominee will take on Trump in the general election.

Shaping that coverage, from inside CNN, will be Sarah Isgur — an openly conservative Republican operative with a proven track record of lying about Democrats, lying for the Trump administration, and attacking the media.

This is CNN.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.