PUSHING BACK

MAGA-Curious CBS Boss Bari Weiss’ Shambolic Staff Meeting Is Leaked

Bari Weiss faced “significant resistance” from her own staff.

Details of MAGA-curious CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss facing internal pushback during a new meeting have been leaked.

Weiss, 42, was met with “significant resistance” from her own staff at a 9 a.m. Thursday meeting addressing Republican fury over the Alaska Senate race, Fox News Digital reported, citing multiple sources on the call.

The meeting covered a New York Times report from Wednesday claiming Democrats plotted to find a candidate to run against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan J. Sullivan, a Trump ally; but with the same name. The alleged bid was to improve Democratic opponent Mary Peltola’s electoral chances by confusing voters with two candidates with near-identical names.

Trump has endorsed Dan S. Sullivan. Retired school teacher Dan J. Sullivan was recruited as part of a mission given to Peltola’s staffers last year to find as many people with the same name as her rival in an attempt to split GOP votes, the Times story claims.

Peltola, whose campaign has repeatedly denied any involvement, got more votes than both Sullivans combined in the August primary. Peltola is currently slightly ahead of the incumbent Sullivan in a FiftyPlusOne poll, leading 49.7 percent to 47.7 percent.

“This is a scandal,” Weiss declared to staff in reference to the Alaska race, Fox reports.

Sources on Thursday morning’s CBS call told Fox News Digital that several staffers pushed back against Weiss’ enthusiasm to cover the issue, and pointed out it was merely routine politics. Additionally, it was noted that Republicans have a history of similar shady tactics.

After Weiss asked staff to provide examples, Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan suggested New Hampshire voters might confuse Senate candidate John Sununu with his brother, former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu.

CBS News senior political correspondent Ed O’Keefe reportedly also pointed out the confusion was nothing new.

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Another staffer in the meeting, according to the source, said Brennan and O’Keefe were providing context to the issue, rather than trying to downplay the scandal, and said the meeting featured “healthy, good conversation” on the topic.

Weiss said the voter confusion in Alaska was a “great story” that CBS should be covering, and called the Times story a “learning moment” for her staff.

Some of the staff on the call were either headed to Alaska or already there, following a Wednesday night editorial directive. That included CBS News congressional reporter Taurean Small.

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The Daily Beast has contacted CBS for comment. A CBS News spokesperson declined to comment to Fox News.

Brennan called out the report of the meeting on her X account on Thursday.

“Fox is wrong,” she wrote. “That is not what happened in the meeting at all. No one who spoke at the network meeting opposed covering the campaign or story but rather exchanged ideas on how to do it.”

Brennan stated that all the Alaska candidates have an “open invitation” to appear on Face the Nation, adding “I look forward to seeing my colleagues cover it too.”

The dueling Dan Sullivans is a topic President Trump has repeatedly mentioned during his midterm rallies. After The New York Times story ran on Wednesday, Trump told reporters that recruiting the second Dan Sullivan to confuse Republican voters was “voter fraud at the highest level.”

“It turned out it was a scheme by the Democrats. That’s what they do best, they cheat,” Trump claimed.

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During a speech in Ohio later on Wednesday, Trump added, “The Democrat candidate who is involved in this scheme, Mary Peltola, said she didn’t know anything about it in court. She should be removed from the ballot and prosecuted, and so should the fake Dan Sullivan.”

CBS Mornings on Thursday pointed out that Peltola called the Times report “another distraction, another diversion,” by Republicans.

Dan J. Sullivan has also previously stated he had no contact with Peltola’s campaign, it added.

O’Keefe told CBS viewers that due to Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, there are concerns from Republicans that “voters might pick the wrong Sullivan and throw off the rankings.”

He added, “This may be considered to be a dirty trick, but it’s not illegal.”

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