CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss met “significant resistance” from some staff at Thursday’s morning editorial meeting about a New York Times report on Alaska’s Senate race, insiders told Fox News Digital.
Weiss called the matter a “scandal,” according to the Fox account. The Times reported that staff for Mary Peltola’s campaign and allies helped recruit a second Dan Sullivan to run against Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, in an effort to split his support. Peltola’s former campaign manager said she wasn’t directly involved but was “definitely aware.”
Peltola’s campaign denies involvement and Peltola dismissed the report as a “distraction.”
Sources on the call told Fox that several staffers pushed back on Weiss’s enthusiasm for the story, with many viewing it as routine politics that Republicans also practice. When Weiss asked for other examples of ballot confusion, “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan mentioned New Hampshire Senate candidate John Sununu, whose brother Chris is a former governor. Correspondent Ed O’Keefe said earlier on “CBS Mornings” that Alaska “could be a dirty trick, but it’s not illegal,” and recalled a 2016 episode involving yet another Dan Sullivan.
Another CBS staffer told Fox that Brennan and O’Keefe were offering context, not minimizing the story, and that the meeting was a “healthy, good conversation.” Fox reports Weiss urged staff to pursue similar stories. CBS declined to comment.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into the Dan Sullivan issue. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has sued to block certification if the incumbent loses and votes cast for the other Sullivan could have changed the outcome, though legal experts are skeptical of this ploy.