RFK: Media Cited Fake Experts During Covid. Bash: ‘That Is My Job’

CNN’s Dana Bash is still living in the “trust the experts” fantasyland that was thoroughly exposed as fake during the coronavirus pandemic, as she continues to push for constitutional rights getting thrown out the window when government responds to a “public health crisis.” The CNN host also argued that it was her “job” to parrot the talking points of so-called “experts” who did so much damage during the Covid crisis.

In a heated interview with Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Bash feigned misunderstanding when Kennedy spoke of preventing a repeat of the government’s Covid-era abuses during the next health crisis.

“Dana, the other thing I would say is that we need to protect our constitutional rights. That is the primary obligation,” Kennedy said.

“What does that mean?” Bash replied.

“During COVID, we completely dismantled our constitutional rights. We began censoring people in violation of the First Amendment,” Kennedy said, before being cut off by Bash saying, “You’re saying what not to do. I’m asking what to do.”

“I’m talking about something to do. That is the number-one priority. We protect the Constitution. The Constitution was written …” Kennedy said, as Bash cut him off again.

“You’re talking about rights, and I’m asking about a potential public-health crisis that is coming,” Bash interjected.

“One of the mistakes we made last time was suppressing those rights, so people weren’t being heard. Doctors who were saying, ‘You’re doing it wrong,’ were being marginalized and vilified,” Kennedy said before Bash tried to change the subject.

But Kennedy did not let Bash or CNN off the hook: “You were part of the problem,” he told the host.

“Part of the problem was absolute press malpractice. … Your job is fierce skepticism toward authority, and you weren’t doing that,” Kennedy continued.

Bash continued to interrupt, and then Kennedy questioned her about the claim that the coronavirus shot protected children from contracting the virus. When Kennedy challenged her to produce “one study,” she changed the subject again, stating, “I can tell you that there have been studies showing that, because of vaccine misinformation and disinformation, 100,000 to 200,000 lives in the U.S. could have been saved.”

“You are saying nonsense. You are saying something for which you cannot show me a single study. … You are talking about what somebody told you. Cite me the study. What study?” Kennedy continued, before pointing out Bash’s tactic of “making assertions” she couldn’t support and then saying Kennedy was “arguing” when he tried to refute them.

Bash admitted that parts of the reaction to the coronavirus were not accurate, but then justified the reaction: “It was a scary time, and people made mistakes.” Kennedy countered that CNN was one of the primary sources deliberately “scaring people.”

“That was the job of CNN: to put the chyrons up about how many people …” Kennedy said, as Bash cut him off again.

CNN became infamous for running the constant death toll from the virus during the Trump administration. CNN also routinely justified major constitutional infringements and helped authoritarians in federal and state governments with narrative control, including on lockdowns and social distancing.

As The Federalist reported, Dr. Anthony Fauci was able to place questions with CNN’s Jake Tapper in order to undermine the coronavirus response as well.

Bash tried to pin “vaccine hesitancy” on Kennedy, maintaining there is absolutely no link between certain vaccines and autism. Kennedy said the Trump administration is looking into whether there is a link, and did not definitively say there was one, but Bash appeared to believe that even doing the research is an affront to the “expert” class that has claimed none exists.

“Do you see your job as ending vaccine hesitancy, or do you see your job as telling the truth to the American people?” Kennedy asked Bash.

“I see my job as telling the truth,” Bash replied. “The truth is that there is study after study after study. It is one of the most studied things out there in science.”

Kennedy quickly disabused her of that notion, stating, “You’re repeating it like a parrot. Have you actually read the science? … All you want to do is repeat things that people told you and say, ‘trust the experts.’ That’s what you did during COVID.” Bash kept defending her parroting of “expert” talking point by saying it was her “job” to “talk to people” and “get the best information out there.”

“Now we know that Anthony Fauci, who was the expert, was lying about everything — about masks, about social distancing, about natural immunity, about transmission from the vaccine and about the source of COVID,” he continued. “He was lying, and you were punishing people for not trusting the experts. Now you’re rolling out the experts again to talk about something you have no personal knowledge of.”

Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.