Michelle Malkin knocks Cokie Roberts shortly after her death: ‘One of the first guilty culprits of fake news’

Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin knocked renowned journalist Cokie Roberts on Tuesday, the same day of her death, calling her “one of the first guilty culprits of fake news.” 

“President Trump did not invent the concept of fake news,” Malkin said in a now-viral clip of a panel discussion focusing on media bias at the Paley Center in New York. “Cokie Roberts, of course, passed away today, and God bless her for an incredible career that she had, but I distinctly remember that she was one of the first guilty culprits of fake news.”

CNN correspondent Brian Stelter, who was also sitting on the panel, interjected, saying: “We’re doing this today? You’re attacking her today?”

“I just want to be clear. The body’s not cold yet,” he said.

Michelle Malkin: “Cokie Roberts of course passed away today and god bless her for an incredible career that she had, but I distinctly remember that she was one of the first guilty culprits of fake news.”

Brian Stelter: “We’re doing this today? You’re attacking her today?” pic.twitter.com/ELPMFuw2RM

— Contemptor (@TheContemptor) September 17, 2019

{mosads}Malkin later said that her swipe at the late journalist was “pertinent to a discussion about fake news and media bias.” She referenced an instance in which Roberts did a live report for ABC News in front of a projection of the Capitol in 1994, a day after former President Clinton’s State of the Union.

Roberts, who was a correspondent for ABC News at the time, had been directed by an executive producer at “ABC World News Tonight” to do a live report using the simulation, according to Variety. 

She and the producer later apologized for the report and received a reprimand from ABC. At the time, Variety reported that insiders at the network said Roberts “regretted going along with the gambit.” 

Malkin said the instance “was a deliberate attempt to deceive the viewing public into thinking she was actually there live covering.”

“Fake news has existed far longer than before President Trump even had the idea of running for office,” she added.

According to The Hollywood Reporter a number of audience members at the panel reacted negatively to Malkin’s comments and told her to go home.

Months ago, the conservative commentator sparked criticism for comments about the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

At the time, she said “the fact is that the ghost of John McCain and all of the other big business, Chamber of Commerce-type of Republicans that have been selling out the American people, that’s where the Republican Party needs to reconnect, and they can’t simply rely on the Democrat Party falling apart.”