SALON

Monday, Dec 27, 2010 3:12 PM UTC

CNN confronts Democratic lobbyist on human rights

A CNN anchor quizzes Lanny Davis on the human rights violations of his newest client, a leader in Ivory Coast

By

Topics: Washington, D.C., War Room, CNN,

CNN confronts Democratic lobbyist on human rights

Democratic lobbyist and former Clinton administration official Lanny Davis has been keeping busy flacking for his new client, Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo. You’d expect no less for Davis’ fee of $100,000 per month.

Even as international outcry continues to increase against Gbagbo, who lost a presidential election last month but is clinging onto power and violently suppressing the opposition, Davis was on CNN a few days ago to make his case. (Part of Davis’ act is to continuously claim that he has no position on who won the election — even though the international community recognizes Gbagbo’s opponent as the winner, and even though the foreign agent registration documents filed by Davis explicitly say he was hired to argue Gbagbo’s case.)

The most interesting part of the combative interview comes at about 4 minutes in when anchor Hala Gorani cites Salon’s interview with Davis, in which he claimed that he would drop the Gbagbo account if there was evidence of human rights violations by the regime. Gorani then cited a United Nations finding that there have in fact been many human rights violations by forces loyal to Gbagbo.

In response, Davis stumblingly says he wants to know who wrote the UN report while also saying that he has read the report. He adds that the UN is sometimes unreliable on Israel.

Watch:

Justin Elliott

Justin Elliott is a reporter for ProPublica. You can follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More Justin Elliott.

Next Article

You Might Also Like

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

Gripping photos: The people of the Turkey protests (slideshow)

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • The protests take on a festive element as police forces move out of the park and square. Wearing a gas mask, this young man dances to traditional Turkish music in front of Taksim Square’s Ataturk Monument.

  • In Gezi Park since March 31st, this protester, originally caught off-guard by the Government’s teargas and water cannons, went out and bought a Russian army mask from WWII, preparing for what was to come.

  • This rambunctious boy seems to be enjoying the chaos. After taking this picture he threw a stone at the already destroyed building in the background.

  • Forming a line, the police face off directly with protesters in Taksim Square. After a while, they retreated and there was a general cheer – a back-and-forth dance that has been common since the beginning of this protest.

  • An elderly woman in Gezi Park reads the news. The tent community occupying the park was violently destroyed on June 16th.

  • Many different groups had set up booths to promote their cause in Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Standing in front of one, this man waves his flag while posing with conviction.

  • Many home-remedies are used to minimize the effects of tear gas. This woman has put a milky solution on her face, removing her mask after the tear gas dissipated. Before sunrise, the police came again for another round of teargasing.

  • People capitalize on the uprising -- selling flags, beer, gas masks, sky lanterns and spray paint to name just a few of the popular items.

  • On Monday morning, June 11, the police execute a strong offensive. Many plain-clothed police officers, like the ones seen here, clash with protesters in the side streets away from the main stand-off in Taksim.

  • The authorities seem to be most aggressive in the night, pushing protesters away from the square and park. After being teargassed this young woman catches her breath with other protesters on Siraselviler Street.

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

More Related Stories

Comments

 20 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username ( settings | log out )

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves": Growing up primate

Recommendations