Apparently lacking a fundamental understanding of how television works, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) on Thursday confidently blared on Twitter that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi allowed CNN to broadcast its Jan. 6 committee hearings coverage from the floor of the Capitol.
“In case you forgot the sham #January6thcommitteehearings are purely for TV ratings,” Steube wrote in a since-deleted tweet, “Pelosi let The Communist News Network build a full TV set where Abraham Lincoln’s desk once stood.”
The screenshot attached to Steube’s tweet showed CNN anchor Jake Tapper interviewing former Mike Pence aides Alyssa Farah Griffin and Olivia Troye shortly before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots convened for hearings focused on the ways in which former President Donald Trump pressured his veep to overturn the 2020 election.
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The background imagery on CNN’s set was that of Statuary Hall, where Lincoln’s desk is believed to have been located.
Of course, CNN did not build a TV set in Statuary Hall, nor did they build a set anywhere else on the Capitol grounds. Tapper and company were in the network’s Washington, D.C. studios. Steube just mistook a clearly digital, green-screened background for the real deal.
The Florida Republican deleted his tweet within 30 minutes of posting it.
“It appears someone got clued into the magic of modern television,” a network spokesperson told The Daily Beast. Steube’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
