CNN anchor Dana Bash faced a wave of online criticism after a heated weekend exchange with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The tense “State of the Union” interview escalated when Kennedy referenced physicians who challenged pandemic-era policies and accused CNN of engaging in what he called “absolute press malpractice.”
Media commentator Greg Price highlighted the moment on X, writing that “RFK just called out Dana Bash for the media’s role in lying to America about covid,” while sharing a clip of Kennedy alleging that Bash and others had “marginaliz[ed] and vilif[ied]” dissenting experts to advance a progressive narrative.
The post also included footage of the combative back-and-forth that followed, as the interview briefly descended into a sharp verbal clash.
Another widely followed conservative account, Johnny MAGA, described the exchange as “RFK Jr. with the most brutal smackdown of Dana Bash ever captured on television.”
OutKick writer Ian Miller also weighed in, publishing a column critical of Bash and CNN while pointing to Bash’s complimentary 2021 text messages to Anthony Fauci, the former government health adviser whom many Republican lawmakers have accused of giving misleading guidance on masks, social distancing, natural immunity and vaccines.
“They were relentless in bringing on a parade of malicious, misinformed ‘experts’ to lie to their audience,” Miller wrote, directing his criticism at CNN’s pandemic coverage.
He added that “CNN, Bash, Tapper, all of them, unquestioningly believed everything Anthony Fauci said, because they have the same political views. That’s it.”
CNN star Dana Bash is being criticized for her interview with Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday
Kennedy citied recently released diary entries that Republican lawmakers say showed the doctor misled about masks, social distancing, natural immunity, and vaccines during the appearance. He did not mention Bash’s friendly texts to Fauci in 2021
Kennedy cited recently released diary entries that some lawmakers say showed Fauci misled the public about the virus and where it came from.
He did not mention Bash texting Fauci to tell him he was ‘a better man’ for not flouting Republican Rep. Jim Jordan’s questions during a hearing about the government’s pandemic response.
She also wrote that her CNN colleague Wolf Blitzer joked that nobody would have blamed the doctor if he’d told Jordan to ‘go f**k yourself’ rather than answer the congressman’s questions.
Kennedy told Bash that doctors who dissented from Fauci’s dictates were demonized or silenced by CNN.
‘You weren’t doing your job, and your job is a fierce skepticism toward authority. You weren’t doing that. You were beating up on people who were dissenting,’ he said.
‘I will not sit here and let you attack me,’ Bash shot back.
‘[Fauci] was lying, and you were punishing people for not trusting the experts. And now you’re rolling out the experts again to talk about something that you have no personal knowledge of,’ Kennedy continued.
The interview became increasingly contentious as it trudged on.
An assortment of commentators and pundits agreed Bash came off worse for wear after the interview
‘Okay. Well, guess what? That is my job, to talk to people,’ Bash quipped, before talking over Kennedy.
‘Am I allowed to talk to the American public? Yes.
‘And my job is to get as much information as I can. And what we were doing- what we were doing… COVID and, and still with regard to these vaccines is getting the best information, the best science that we can, and putting it out there.’
Even far-left liberal Mehdi Hasan said he felt Bash came off as ‘unprepared’ and allowed RFK Jr ‘not just to get under her skin, but make multiple false and dangerous claims.’
‘If you’re gonna platform conspiracy theorists and grifters, you gotta be ready for their false claims and spin,’ he wrote.
Former Florida Republican Matt Gaetz called the exchange ‘incredible’ in his own X post. Others saw it as Bash getting ‘steamrolled’ by the health secretary.
CNN defended Bash’s interview performance in a statement to the Daily Mail.
CNN defended Bash’s interview performance in a statement
Former Florida Republican Matt Gaetz saw the exchange between Kennedy and Bash as ‘incredible’. Kennedy told Bash that doctors who dissented from Fauci’s dictates were demonized or silenced by CNN during the pandemic
‘Dana Bash is a veteran journalist who conducted a newsmaking interview with Secretary Kennedy in which he stated that he supports parents getting their children vaccinated against measles and addressed President Trump’s push for further study into autism and vaccines,’ a spokesperson said.
‘Asking tough, substantive questions to those in power is the job of every journalist, and Dana did hers incredibly well.
‘We stand behind Dana, her reporting, and CNN’s overall coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.’
