GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Project Veritas recently unveiled a possible scandal regarding a CBS News broadcast where an insider alleged that footage dramatizing a COVID-19 testing site was a staged effort to create a façade of a long line awaiting testing at a Grand Rapids medical center.

The broadcast in question was aired on May 1st, which depicted numerous vehicles lined up outside of Cherry Medical Center to receive a test for COVID-19.

James O’Keefe from Project Veritas interviewed a whistleblower on camera, who shielded their identity, that alleges that many of the cars lined up weren’t patients seeking tests.

According to the source, they were hospital employees staging a good shot for the cameras.

If true, this fiasco would be like a page pulled right from the film “Wag the Dog.”

O’Keefe wanted to be clear of what he was being told by the clandestine source:

“So, the people in the cars are not patients?”

The person then replied with the following:

“Majority of them. I do know, from talking with the testers that one, one of them, one or two of them were real patients, which added to their frustration because this line sat there for a while so they could organize the shot.”

It’s a scary concept to fathom. Instead of the news being relayed as is, there is an clear possibility that consumers of news media are having elements artificially embedded into stories.

Footage was obtained on the scene of the medical center, where staff had corroborated that there were aspects of the filmed segment that were sensationalized. Nick Ross, who works as a corporate cleaning site supervisor at Cherry Health said he was there when the footage was being shot:

“Apparently the news crew wanted more people in the line because they knew it was scheduled.”

A registered nurse was also caught on camera noting that employees were given a heads-up about the upcoming CBS News crew coming to film:

“We knew they were coming. We had no clue that we’re going to have to, like, do fake patients.”

Yet, according to Cherry Health President and CEO Tasha Blackmon, there was no collusion between their facility or CBS to artificially inflate the line of cars outside their testing facility:

“We and CBS News had nothing to do with that line.”

CBS News also released a statement regarding the Project Veritas report, claiming that CBS had zero to do with any elements being staged at the facility. The news organization attributed any fabricated elements to the segment back toward Cherry Health:

“[Cherry Health] informed us for the first time that one of their chief officers told at least one staffer to get in the testing line along with real patients. No one from CBS News had any knowledge of this before tonight. They also said that their actions did not prevent any actual patients from being tested.”

While CBS agreed to remove that segment from the piece it was attached to, it’s still not a very good look from a reporting standard.

Even President Trump made a remark regarding the CBS News story while he was commenting on media outlets he believes to be untrustworthy:

“CBS is having a hard time. They’re not getting it straight, in fact, last night I read where they did a false report where they actually got people…because they want to make it look like it was turmoil.”

Law Enforcement Today has previously reported on other instances where CBS News were caught spreading some sensationalized, and flat-out fake, news. Here’s the background on that in case you missed it. 

If CBS News could wear pants, then they’d be on fire. It seems as though they keep getting caught using hospital footage from Italy, while describing instances ongoing within hospitals here in the states.

It’s almost as if CBS News was more interested in spreading fear rather than the actual news.

It all started back on March 22nd when CBS News was detailing developments related to COVID-19 in New York, while simultaneously showcasing hospital footage from Italy. The footage was used in concurrence while describing New York City hospitals to be specific.

Nearly anyone could see how that would be extremely misleading to say the least. Well, turns out some savvy viewers caught the misleading footage and called CBS News out on it.

According to CBS News, they responded to the footage snafu with the following:

“It was an editing mistake. We took immediate steps to remove it from all platforms and shows.”

Last time I checked, an editing mistake is when someone forgets to mute an expletive on an FCC mandated airwave. Using footage from an Italian hospital, while reporting on NYC hospitals seems a little suspect.

It gets better though.

Days later after being called out, they were caught again using the same exact Italian hospital footage while reporting on the pandemic with regard to Pennsylvania.

Oh, CBS just can’t stop bringing the fake news.

They’re not only using footage from abroad to describe U.S. based hospitals, but they also posted a video testimony from a nurse sobbing about how her hospital wouldn’t let them wear, or even provide, N95 masks in the COVID-19 ICU.

During this attempt at a raw testimonial, former nurse Imaris Vera stated:

“I quit my job today. I went into work and I was assigned to a COVID patient on [sic] an ICU unit that has been converted to a designated COVID unit.

None of the nurses are wearing masks, not even surgical masks in the hallways when they’re giving reports to each other. I had my own N95 mask.”

Through teary eyes, Vera then says:

“I told my manager, I understand we’re short on supplies, but let me protect myself. Let me feel safe.”

Guess what?

The nurse was caught lying. Unfortunately, not until after the video was viewed millions of times.

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Individuals in the comments section from the Twitter-posted video knew there was something fishy before CBS News issued a correction of sorts.

You know it’s getting bad when people who are meant to consume media can tell when something seems off.

Because, to be frank, who would honestly believe that a hospital would not allow, or provide, someone to wear PPE while working in an ICU?

Did they remove the video though? Nope, they left their fake news up there.

CBS News simply stated the following underneath the video:

“Imaris Vera, the nurse in this video, clarified her experience on Monday in a tweet: ‘We were each assigned 1 N95 per 1 covid patient’s room but was not allowed to wear it outside of the room, wear our own N95 mask around the Nurses station or Halls, which I came prepared with.’”

Seems as though they were just too thirsty for a headline of doom and gloom.

If they’d looked into Vera’s other social media posts, they would have seen that maybe…she’s a little off.

Internet sleuths didn’t take long to find video posts of Vera’s strange rantings weeks prior to her tear-jerking video.

Of course, Vera has since deleted her social media accounts.

Even the presidential dropout Bernie Sanders shared Vera’s fake account of the hospital ICU, with the statement of outrage to accompany it:

“It is insane that our nurses are being forced to care for the sick without masks and respirators. The Department of Labor must immediately issue emergency workplace standards to protect our health workers, their families, and their patients.”

Between hospital footage being used incorrectly and very deceptively, and sharing false accounts of the state of affairs for nurses working in hospital ICUs, CBS News reigns supreme in the mainstream phony corona-coverage.

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The post Editorial: Someone staged fake patients for a CBS News story – now everyone is pointing fingers at each other appeared first on Law Enforcement Today.