CBS staffers miffed by hiring of Mick Mulvaney: report

Staffers at CBS are upset with the network’s decision to sign former top Trump White House aide Mick Mulvaney as a contributor, according to a new report.

Several journalists working at the network spoke with The Washington Post this week and expressed dismay that Mulvaney, who served as former President Trump’s acting chief of staff and has attacked media outlets over coverage of the early days of the pandemic, is now on the network’s payroll.

“I know everyone I talked to today was embarrassed about the hiring,” one anonymous employee told the Post.

“Everyone is baffled,”  another said.

On social media, reactions across the journalism and political landscape were similarly critical.

“Embarrassed is exactly how everyone involved should feel about this, Mulvaney is a known liar who regularly attacked the press and also has massive conflicts of interest with anything CBS News would want him to talk about,” tweeted Matthew Gertz, a senior fellow at the left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters.

“Neeraj Khemlani should be canned,” added Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, referring to the co-president of CBS News. “Makes CBS even more marginal in news biz than it already is.”

CBS announced Mulvaney’s hiring on Tuesday, touting his experience in government. He previously served as director of the Office of Budget Management after a stint as a congressman from South Carolina. The company rolled out his debut out on its morning news streaming program.

“If you look at some of the people that we’ve been hiring on a contributor basis, being able to make sure that we are getting access to both sides of the aisle is a priority because we know the Republicans are going to take over, most likely, in the midterms,” Khemlani told employees working on the network’s morning show earlier this month, according to a recording shared with the Post. “A lot of the people that we’re bringing in are helping us in terms of access to that side of the equation.”

Other networks have taken similar flak from critics of the Trump administration and media observers for hiring aides and allies of the former president as part of their political coverage.

CNN hired former Trump press aide Alyssa Farah Griffin late last year, a decision that was panned by some. The Hollywood Reporter this week highlighted that Mulvaney’s hiring was part of the jockeying among top media outlets for talent that expresses a wide array of political viewpoints before the fall’s midterm elections and the 2024 presidential race.

The network said Mulvaney will be part of its broadening political coverage ahead of the midterms.

“CBS News is continuing to build up its roster of contributors on both sides of the aisle ahead of the midterms and the 2024 election,” a CBS spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill on Thursday.