
Topline
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) ridiculed CNN Thursday for building a studio in the U.S. Capitol building in a tweet Thursday afternoon, before deleting the tweet when he apparently learned CNN’s broadcast was using a green screen.
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) drew attention on Twitter Thursday after apparently not realizing CNN was using … [+]
Highlights
Posting a screenshot of CNN’s coverage ahead of Thursday’s congressional hearings on the Jan. 6 riots, Steube tweeted his dismay that CNN was “building a full TV” in the National Statuary Hall, the wallpaper green that CNN anchors were talking about in the clip.
crucial quote
Steube wrote in his since deleted post: [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi] let the Communist News Network build a full TV where Abraham Lincoln’s office once stood.
Key Context
One of 147 Republican congressmen to vote in favor of nullifying the election results, Steube sentenced the deadly Capitol Riots the day they happened. Steube joined a majority of House Republicans in voting against the creation of the Jan. 6 committee last May and has been a vocal critic of the panel since its inception. Thursday marks the committee’s third televised hearing this month and centers on former President Donald Trump’s efforts to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results.
Tangent
Steube’s nickname “Communist News Network” for CNN recalls Trump’s nicknames for the network, which called it the Clinton News Network and rallied vitriol for CNN among its supporters.
Further reading
Jan. 6 hearings: Pence told Trump ‘multiple times’ he couldn’t overturn election results, staffer says (Forbes)
Who is John Eastman? The lawyer at the center of Trump’s January 6 strategy. (Forbes)