CNN did not air Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) opening statement live during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on the Department of Justice Inspector General’s Report on FISA abuse.
Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, laid out what the FBI did in order to obtain their FISA warrants against people associated with President Trump's 2016 campaign.
Instead of airing his opening remarks live, "CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto" had four commercial breaks, a panel with CNN's National Security Analyst Susan Hennessey and Bloomberg reporter Sahil Kapur about impeachment, a panel with CNN's Justice Correspondent Jessica Schneider and former Assistant Director of the FBI's Office of Congressional Affairs Greg Bower, an interview with Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY), and a segment reporting on a whistleblower raising concerns about Boeing's 737 Super Max planes.
Almost 40 minutes into the hearing, CNN did air a 15-second clip of Graham stating how the Russians are meddling in America's election. In the same 9:00 A.M. time slot on Monday, CNN aired Rep. Jerry Nadler's (D-NY) full opening statement during the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearing.
Fox News aired Graham's opening statement in full, with MSNBC airing most of it live. CNN did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel criticized the network for not airing Graham's remarks despite airing Democrats' comments in full.
After airing days & days of Democrat impeachment hearings, FAKE NEWS @CNN and @MSNBC are REFUSING to air @LindseyGrahamSC's opening statement in the Inspector General's report hearing.
— Trump War Room (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TrumpWarRoom) December 11, 2019
They are COVERING UP the truth. They are nothing more than propaganda for the Democrats! pic.twitter.com/i7wyLNPVgl
CNN aired everything Schiff & Nadler had to say. Why aren’t they showing @LindseyGrahamSC? Is it because the facts of how the FBI mistreated @realDonaldTrump contradict their coverage over the last 3 years? https://t.co/AdVYf8RHzV
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) December 11, 2019
At the time of publication, CNN also did not air Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-CA), the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, opening statement.