Jake Tapper Interviews Michael Avenatti, Doesn’t Ask About Threats to Daily Caller

By Jon StreetMay 15th, 2018, 6:13 pm
 

Hours after Michael Avenatti threatened to sue the Daily Caller News Foundation over an unflattering article about his past business dealings, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump appeared on CNN for an interview with host Jake Tapper —but Tapper didn’t ask Avenatti about the threat during the entire five minute sit-down.

Considered one of the best journalists in Washington, D.C. among conservatives and liberals, Tapper either ran out of time during the segment or didn’t consider the matter worth asking about. Either way, it’s a disappointment to those, like myself, who have looked to Mr. Tapper for years as one of the best examples of how a respected journalist should conduct himself.

Tuesday’s interview with Avenatti, however, was anything but an example of objective journalism.

While the Daily Caller News Foundation is obviously a publication with a conservative bent, the reporting by Joe Simonson and Peter Hasson on Avenatti’s past business dealings appears to hold water. Avenatti, who is known to tweet his disapproval of negative coverage about him, has been uncharacteristically silent about the report on Twitter since publication. Avenatti did, however, email the authors to threaten to sue them and the Daily Caller News Foundation for defamation.

Hasson later tweeted screenshots of Avenatti’s email, prompting CNN’s Don Lemon to ask Avenatti about the exchange Monday night, albeit briefly. While the amount of time Lemon took to question Avenatti on the threatening email was disappointing, it exceeds what Tapper devoted. I still believe he’s better than his Avenatti interview Tuesday.

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UPDATE 6:47 p.m. — Jake Tapper has responded to this column.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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