US President Joe Biden took aim at the news outlets in his remarks at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner over the weekend. The US leader said such news outlets ran on long-refuted conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was rife with voter fraud.
On Saturday, Biden took swipes at news outlets he said ran on conspiracy theories “for profit and power” during his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington DC. The US leader noted that the news cycle based on such conspiracy theories resulted in local jurisdictions introducing policies that authorized the banning of books and challenges to “the rule of law and our rights and our freedoms to be stripped away.”
“Lies told for profit and power. Lies of conspiracy and malice repeated over and over again designed to generate a cycle of anger and hate and even violence,” said Biden.
Biden also targeted right-leaning network Fox News in his remarks, saying that the network was “honest, fair, and truthful then I can be sued for defamation.” The US leader referenced the recent lawsuit against the network by Dominion Voting Systems, reaching a settlement of $787.5 million. Fox News hosts claimed that the voting machines by the company were rigged in favor of Biden.
The US leader also took a swipe at his immediate predecessor Donald Trump, joking that comedian Roy Wood Jr. – who was also the featured speaker at the event – paid him $10 to keep his speech short.
“That’s a switch – a president being offered hush money,” said Biden.
Friday last week, Biden reduced the prison sentences of 31 people who were convicted of drug-related crimes. All of the sentences are set to end on June 30, with the remainder of their sentence to be spent under house arrest. The announcement comes as the White House released a 77-page plan to reduce “unnecessary” detentions and support rehabilitation for those imprisoned as well as help those who are released from prison re-enter society.
The US leader has already reduced the sentences or pardoned over 100 individuals, most of which were drug-related cases. Biden has also pardoned thousands of others who were convicted of marijuana possession.