CNN anchor Jake Tapper lied after denying that he urged Republican congressional candidate Sean Parnell not to run against incumbent Democrat Rep. Conor Lamb for a western Pennsylvania House seat. Tapper is a former Democrat House staffer from PA and was trying to protect his old Democrat turf. He was playing his old game as a staffer while pretending to be an objective newsman. But Fox News aired the direct message from Tapper to Parnell that asked Parnell to leave Lamb alone. That DM made Tapper a liar.

Fox News reports: “Tapper suggested that Parnell, a U.S. Army combat veteran who recently spoke at the Republican National Convention, would be better off running in a safer district for Republicans, according to a source close to, but unaffiliated with, Parnell’s campaign. The source accused Tapper of unethically participating in political activism. Fox News obtained a Twitter direct message that Tapper sent to Parnell’s @SeanParnellUSA account on Nov. 8, 2019, after he officially declared his candidacy for Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district against Lamb.”

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“And best of luck in your race. For the record, I wasn’t trying to talk you out of running — I was trying to talk you into running in a safer R district! Lol,” Tapper wrote to Parnell.

Former Director of National Intelligence and American ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, now with the RNC, asked Tapper about it and got a denial. Then Grenell saw the Fox News data and DM from Tapper to Parnell.

“The @CNN bias is serious. We all know this,” Grenell tweeted. “But when @jaketapper, a former Democrat Hill staffer from Pennsylvania, tries to manipulate a Pennsylvania Congressional race while hosting a nightly news show, the cable network MUST take action.” They won’t.

Other conservatives went after Tapper, who hilariously bills himself as nonpartisan. “@jaketapper told @RichardGrenell there was no truth to story that he tried to convince Sean Parnell to run in a different district than Conor Lamb’s. Here’s the DM to Parnell where Tapper admits exactly that,” said Washington Free Beacon executive editor Brent Scher.

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“Honestly don’t think that Tapper advising Parnell that he might be better off running in a different district (probably true!) is a big deal. But the flat-out denial contradicted by this DM is a real issue,” noted writer AG Hamilton.

“It appears CNN’s Jake Tapper lied when he was asked if he urged Republican Sean Parnell not to run against Democrat Rep. Conor Lamb,” said Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway.

“The only way Tapper can try to claim this is not a bald-faced lie is by playing semantics. He did not ‘ask’ Parnell not to run against Lamb, while he was trying to ‘talk him out’ of running in Lamb’s district. Would Tapper buy this line from a Republican on his show?” NewsBusters‘ Tim Graham asked.

The DM leaked to Fox News cites “sources familiar with the interactions” and reported that Tapper “communicated his views on how Parnell should not run against Lamb in a variety of communication forms, including in text messages, Twitter direct messages, and in a phone call.” So yeah, Tapper was putting the full court press on Parnell and got caught.

“He [Tapper] boxed himself into a corner,” one source said. “He wanted him to primary a Republican instead of running against Lamb. He was looking out for his Democrat friend.” But then looking out for Democrats is par for the course at CNN.