Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a bold new strategy for dealing with a presidential primetime address: just pretend it isn't happening. The New York congresswoman is urging major networks to refuse to air President Trump's upcoming Thursday evening speech, which is expected to focus on 2020 election integrity findings and newly declassified information, as Trending Politics reported.
Nothing says "we believe in democracy" quite like asking the media to block the President of the United States from speaking to the American public. Really instills confidence.
"I don't think we should be contributing to any platforming of lies about our election," AOC told reporters on Capitol Hill. She added that news outlets often receive transcripts ahead of time and argued, "I think we have an ethical obligation to not air things that undermine our election that are not rooted in evidence and fact. Of course, it depends on the contents of his speech."
So she hasn't seen the speech yet, doesn't know what's in it, but is already pretty sure it needs to be silenced. That's some impressive preemptive censorship work right there. Give this woman a crystal ball and a cable news contract.
Trump previewed the address during Oval Office remarks, saying, "It's really, really big for us and our country has to shape up. It doesn't get bigger, because without free and fair elections, you don't have a country. We'll be discussing other things too. But it's going to be a very big announcement." He separately indicated that the speech "will concern that subject" of elections and voting machines.
The White House has requested airtime from the major broadcast networks. No word yet on which ones plan to carry it live, but primetime presidential addresses are relatively rare events that typically require networks to bump their regularly scheduled programming. Whether any of them take AOC's advice and go with reruns of a baking competition instead remains to be seen.
The speech is expected to reference newly declassified information related to longstanding claims about the 2020 election outcome, including assertions about foreign interference and voting machine issues. CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte are scheduled to participate. Pulte has been overseeing a document review tied to the declassification effort.
Meanwhile, the FBI has redirected hundreds of analysts and researchers to investigate election integrity matters in Fulton County, Georgia. Each analyst is reportedly tasked with completing approximately 708 records checks, with a deadline of July 17. The memo authorized overtime including weekends and holidays, and the Atlanta field office is providing training. The analysts are specialists in record review, not special agents.
This follows a January raid on a Fulton County election warehouse where federal agents seized more than 600 boxes of materials, including original ballots from the 2020 election, tapes, voter rolls, and images.
So to recap: the FBI is pouring resources into a major election probe, intelligence officials are participating in a primetime address with declassified documents, and AOC's response is to ask everyone to please look away. Bold strategy.
Read more breaking news stories at: Trending Politics News
