Jonathan Turley calls out CNN, NBC News for downplaying, editing Biden's 'you ain't black' remarks

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George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley slammed CNN and NBC News for what he described as the downplaying of Joe Biden's controversial "you ain't black" remarks.

Turley called out CNN anchor John King on Sunday for the way he framed the backlash the presumptive Democratic nominee had been facing over comments he made on Friday during an interview with "The Breakfast Club" radio host Charlamagne tha God. He later walked back his rhetoric, saying he shouldn't have been so "cavalier."

"I want to ask you about something else big in politics," King said during an interview with former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. "You ran briefly for the Democratic nomination for president, Joe Biden is the presumptive nominee now. The Trump campaign trying to make a big deal out of this."

King then played a brief clip of Biden's exchange with the radio host, including his touting the extension of the Voting Rights Act.

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"CNN's John King just began a question on how 'some are trying to make a big deal over' Biden's 'you're not black' comment. CNN then played the clip ending with 'I extended the Voting Rights Act 25 years. I have a record that is second to none,'" Turley reacted. "However, the quote was edited to exclude the next line: 'The NAACP has endorsed me every time I’ve run. Come on, take a look at my record.' That is a false statement that the NAACP has publicly rebutted."

The NAACP pushed back against Biden's claim, saying, "The NAACP is a non-partisan organization and does not endorse candidates for political office at any level.” A Biden official later told Fox News that the former vice president "was referring to his ratings from the organization."

"On such false statements, CNN is not making a 'big deal about it.' It is simply editing it out. Not a big deal. That is not one of the 'facts first' stories," Turley slammed the network.

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Turley, a constitutional scholar widely known for his congressional testimony opposing President Trump's impeachment during the Ukraine scandal, scolded CNN for replaying the same clip later on in another interview and for King saying that the Trump campaign is "trying to make hay about this."

He also knocked NBC anchor Chuck Todd for similarly omitting Biden's falsehood regarding endorsements from the NAACP.

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"Todd's signature 'fact checks' does not extend to the very next line in this controversial claim by Biden. It is the media version of the papal indulgence," Turley tweeted. "There is a false narrative that criticizing Biden means that you don't criticize Trump. Some of us have criticized both."

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Turley recently blasted the media for widely dismissing the recent revelations of the unmasking requests of former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

"There is very little question that the response by the media to such a story would have been overwhelming if George Bush and his administration had targeted the Obama campaign figures with secret surveillance," Turley wrote. "That story would have been encompassing if it was learned that there was no direct evidence to justify the investigation and that the underlying allegation of Russian collusion was ultimately found to lack a credible basis. ... But the motives of Obama administration officials are apparently not to be questioned."