Government & Communications

Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) offered a head-slapping defense of a conspiracy theory he touted on CNN: It was something that he’d seen on the Internet.

Rep Farenthold was suggesting that questions about any link between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian actors was “deflecting away from some other things that we need to be investigating in.” “There’s still some question,” he said, “as to whether the intrusion at the server was an insider job or whether or not it was the Russians.” CNN’s John Berman interrupted. “I’m sorry,” he said. “The insider job — what are you referring to here? I hope it’s not this information that Fox News just refused to be reporting.” “Again, there’s stuff circulating on the Internet,” Rep Farenthold said. Co-host Poppy Harlow asked if it was responsible to cite Internet rumors as a rationale to launch a congressional investigation. Rep Farenthold replied that the media sometimes relied on anonymous sources for its reporting — so therefore it was.

Sen John McCain (R-AZ) says the media is frequently "ambushing" lawmakers, decrying the “30-second news cycles” created by social media.

"We are in almost a media frenzy. There are large numbers of reporters, cameras, microphones waiting as you go to vote," Sen McCain said. He added that reporters "are all waiting and ambushing for something that’s quotable." Sen McCain said he's "not a critic of the media," though he does “hate them." He said he sometimes gets himself into trouble because he is not careful when speaking to the press. Sen McCain also warned internet users to beware of fake online news stories, referring to a conspiracy theory about a DC-based pizza shop running a child sex trafficking ring. “Don’t believe everything you see on the internet. Check it out before you believe it,” Sen McCain added.