Tonight’s ABC and CBS evening newscasts aired reports in furtherance of the ongoing campaign to pressure a sitting Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Samuel Alito, into recusing himself from upcoming opinions that have a direct effect on the ongoing federal prosecutions against former President Donald Trump.
Watch ABC’s report in its entirety, as aired on ABC World News Tonight on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024 (click “expand” to view transcript”):
DAVID MUIR: There is a developing headline tonight involving Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Just days after images emerged showing an upside down American flag flying outside his home for several days after January 6th, tonight, the new report on a second flag, this time at his beach house. Here’s our chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas now.
PIERRE THOMAS: Just days after the nation saw an image of an upside down flag outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in the days after January 6th, a symbol of the Stop the Steal movement, a new photo tonight raising yet more questions. The New York Times publishing images of a pine tree flag outside Alito’s New Jersey beach home last summer, with the words “Appeal to Heaven.” Like the upside down flag, the pine tree flag was carried by some pro-Trump supporters on January 6th as the Capitol was attacked. Tonight, it’s unclear who allegedly placed the flag, and what kind of statement was being made. The flag, which dates back to the Revolutionary War, has also been associated with Christian nationalism. Supreme Court justices are supposed to avoid the appearance of political bias. And Democrats argue Alito has a conflict of interest, and should recuse himself from two January 6th cases now before the high court, including one which will resolve whether President Trump has immunity from prosecution. David, we reached out to the Court and Justice Alito for comment on these new photos. So far, no response.
MUIR: Pierre Thomas, at the court tonight. Pierre, thank you.
Both ABC and CBS’s items touched common points. Both reports follow the lead of Jodi Kantor’s reporting in The New York Times. Both reports note that Alito flew another “problematic” flag at one of his properties, that the flag is adjacent to January 6th, and that Democrats want Alito to recuse ahead of Supreme Court opinions on obstruction and presidential immunity, which will affect many J6 cases in addition to the Trump federal prosecutions.
But this goes beyond just reporting.
The release of these items, timed a month before the current Supreme Court session ends and with it the publication of landmark and/or controversial opinions, has a twofold purpose. The first, to pressure Justice Samuel Alito into recusing himself from the aforementioned matters. This is no different from the smear campaign against Justice Clarence Thomas (and also Alito), or from the carefully orchestrated character assassination op against then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the midst of his confirmation hearings
Barring that, the publication and TV dissemination of these articles is intended to gin the leftist mobs into a frenzy such as we saw ahead of the Dobbs opinion, wherein they conducted illegal protests at the homes of conservative justices. It is important to remember that that violence was egged on by then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer:
In which Chuck Schumer threatens TWO sitting Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. pic.twitter.com/pA3mryeVK2
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) March 4, 2020
That call to violence led directly to a nutjob flying cross-country in order to do God knows what to Justice Kavanaugh and his family. Fortunately, that individual desisted from his violent designs upon Justice Kavanaugh.
This strategically-timed reporting on flags must be regarded as an attack against the independent judiciary, and therefore, against Democracy itself. The Regime Media, once again, engaging in election interference.
Below is the transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on the CBS Evening News on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024:
NORAH O’DONNELL: There’s breaking news tonight. New questions surrounding Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, after a New York Times report of a Revolutionary War-era flag linked to the January 6th insurrection photographed outside Alito’s beach house in New Jersey last summer. It was an Appeal to Heaven flag, which became a symbol of support for Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign to overturn the 2020 election. The Times previously reported another “Stop the Steal” symbol, an upside down American flag, was flown outside Alito’s home in Virginia in January of 2021. Alito says his wife put up that flag as part of a dispute with a neighbor. The revelation has dozens of democratic lawmakers calling on the justice to recuse himself from January 6th-related cases.