CNN Pushes, Watters Waxes, Hayes Cracks Up | Winners & Losers in Today’s Green Room

CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz confronted Uvalde Independent School District Police Chief Pedro Arredondo outside his office this morning.

Arredondo was behind the law enforcement response to last week’s massacre at Robb Elementary School. As the incident commander, he made the call to hold off breaching the classroom door.

Uvalde PD and the school district police have stopped cooperating with the investigation into that disastrous response, and Arredondo, a city council member as of last night, was equally uncooperative with CNN.

He has not responded to interview requests, so Prokupecz waited outside the school district office to confront him as he tried to sneak in the back. As the chief exited his car, Prokupecz asked to talk to him about those fateful decisions.

Arredondo rebuffed the question, saying that they were “not going to release anything,” because “we have people in our community being buried.”

“How do you explain yourself?” Prokupecz asked.

“We’re going to be respectful, respectful to the families–” said Arredondo a few times.

“I understand that,” Prokupecz interjected. “You have an opportunity to explain yourself to the parents.”

“We’re going to do that eventually, obviously,” the chief replied.

It went on that way. Prokupecz told anchor Poppy Harlow they’d given Arredondo “ample opportunity” to respond, but “he chose to dodge those questions.”

“There’s still a lot of questions that he needs to answer,” said Prokupecz.

“Absolutely,” Harlow replied. “He said when the families stop grieving — they’re never going to stop grieving and they deserve answers.”

That is exactly right. And why this was important work by CNN — work that isn’t over.

Jesse Watters, a news host, floated completely unconfirmed internet rumors that during Paul Pelosi‘s DUI arrest over the weekend, the husband of the Speaker of the House tried to bribe police.

Pelosi was arrested by Napa County Police on Saturday night on suspicion of DUI after he allegedly ran a stop sign and collided with a Jeep. No one was injured. He was reportedly driving home from a dinner party.

On Tuesday, Watters noted that Pelosi’s wife, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was 3,000 miles away over the weekend to deliver the commencement address at Brown University. He found it unusual that Paul Pelosi attended the dinner alone.

“First of all,” he began, “Have you ever been to a dinner party without your significant other? Me either. I think there’s more to the story.”

The Fox News host then claimed – citing no source whatsoever – that Pelosi attempted to bribe the police.

“He allegedly offered stock tips to the officer and asked, Do you know who I am?’” said Watters. “But we can’t confirm those rumors – just sounds like something he might do.”

A search for these claims online yields a facetious post on Reddit suggesting Pelosi pulled the “Do you know who I am?” card.

Meanwhile, a search about Watters’ stock tip bribe claim yielded no relevant results.

Watters then noted his show’s failed attempts at getting a mugshot of Pelosi and suggested something nefarious is afoot. “All I know is someone’s going through a lot of trouble to keep this mugshot hidden,” he said.

It is not uncommon for TV news hosts to cite unconfirmed reports. However, not citing any sources is highly unusual. And in cases where hosts or networks receive tips from anonymous sources, it’s standard practice to note as much when reporting.

Idle speculation isn’t an “allegation,” it’s barely even rumor. And sarcasm isn’t a shield for mongering it, whatever word you choose.