MAGA-approved CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil was shredded live on air for broadcasting President Trump and his crackpot election conspiracy theories.
Dokoupil, 45, was steering the CBS coverage of Trump’s address to the nation on Thursday evening. The network’s newsroom has taken a more MAGA-friendly approach since the anti-woke Bari Weiss became editor-in-chief last October.
Weiss, 42, was installed by Paramount Skydance’s Trump-friendly owner, nepo billionaire David Ellison, despite having never worked in television news before. Dokoupil was one of Weiss’s first hires.
While other major networks including ABC, NBC, and CNN, refused to interrupt their usual Thursday night programming to air Trump’s grievances live, CBS gave the president valuable airtime.
Dokoupil introduced the network’s coverage of the speech by attempting to justify why it was crossing live to Trump. The anchor prefaced the president’s address with a disclaimer that the 80-year-old had previously made “false” statements about losing the 2020 election.
However, in interviews following Trump’s speech, Dokoupil was schooled to his face by Virginia Democrat Mark Warner, who has also been vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee since 2016.
Dokoupil began by asking Warner if there was “anything to your ears that was new tonight,” in Trump’s speech.
Warner immediately snapped, “No.”
He then launched into the host, stating, “As a matter of fact, before I start, as an American, not as an elected official, I was embarrassed that the president of the United States went before our whole country, and networks like yours carried this as news, as opposed to a rehash of falsehoods,” Warner said.
He told Dokoupil, “And it is incumbent upon you and any responsible journalist to push back on these falsehoods.”
The CBS host attempted to interject, but Warner kept talking. “If we don’t call into question these falsehoods, this president is… going to lose a free and fair election,” the senator said, seemingly implying that Trump is positioning himself to undermine the upcoming 2026 midterms.
He continued, “And unless responsible journalists and the American people step up and say, our system, which has stood the test of time, is not going to be undermined by this kind of falsehood, then, you know, we all have to live with those responsibilities.”
Dokoupil claimed Warner’s presence on the CBS show was indeed a sign they were providing an antidote to Trump’s statement.
“You are calling for context and analysis and pushback. You are on the show right now giving it, and acting as though it’s not happening,” Dokoupil told Warner.
The CBS host even questioned the president’s honesty over his refusal to accept the result of the 2020 election.
“I just want to underscore that the reason you’re on is because we agree, you and I, that this is a vitally, vitally important topic,” Dokoupil told Warner. “And the president has a terrible track record on it.”
Dokoupil then referenced the CBS disclaimer he read before Trump’s speech, and pointed out that their commentators picked holes in the president’s claims.
“As we said at the top… we’ve been trying to buttress and fact-check and give context and analysis… throughout,” the host said.
Warner then stated, “Where would you like me to start on the level of falsehoods, you know, just incredible lies?”
Warner told Dokoupil, “I’ve never seen comments like this from a president of the United States.”
He added, “Doesn’t matter what party, nothing to do with party, that is so less connected to truth than this. And if we don’t step up and you guys as journalists and people across the political aisle stand up and say, our election integrity is too important to mess around with, then shame on all of us.”
Before CBS aired Trump’s speech, Dokoupil’s disclaimer said it was expected to contain references to the safety and security of American elections.
“And honestly, much of what the president has said on this topic has been false,” Dokoupil told viewers. “Most notably, of course, the claim that he won the 2020 election when, of course, he did not.”
He added, “Because of this, there is an argument that it’s irresponsible to air the president’s speech tonight. But this speech will be made. It will be news, and it’s our job to cover the news.”
CBS wound up cutting to Trump four minutes after his speech had begun, and cut it five minutes before he wrapped up, shortly after he had called out NBC and ABC for not airing his address.
Calling the networks “fake news,” Trump claimed they deemed his speech a turn-off, “because of the fact that they don’t like the topic because they know how corrupt our system is and they don’t want to reveal it.”
Trump angrily claimed that the networks and other media were “part of a plot.”
With the delayed start and abrupt finish, CBS aired 19 minutes of the president’s 26-minute speech.
The Daily Beast has contacted CBS for comment.
