Lashes out at The Hill

Another congresswoman lashes out at The Hill

By MICHAEL CALDERONE

Florida Congresswoman Val Demings questioned Tuesday whether the The Hill is “fair and unbiased” during an exchange with a reporter from the publication, the second of such incidents in recent days.

California Rep. Jackie Speier, who is also a Democrat, told a Hill reporter on Friday that it was “reprehensible” that the paper published columns by John Solomon, a conservative journalist who helped ignite the Ukraine scandal and whose work has been promoted by President Donald Trump and his allies.

Demings said Tuesday she had “not heard good things recently” about The Hill in response to tech policy reporter Emily Birnbaum identifying herself before asking a question about a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown, according to audio of the exchange reviewed by POLITICO.

“Recently, I have not heard good things about The Hill being fair and impartial and unbiased… and that concerns me because any story we’re telling needs to be fair and unbiased and impartial,” Demings told Birnbaum during the exchange in the speaker’s lobby, which was witnessed by other reporters. Demings answered Birnbaum’s question and agreed it was fair.

Demings had no additional comment on the exchange, according to a spokesperson.

Though Demings did not mention Solomon specifically, the former employee’s work has come under increasing scrutiny and has put The Hill under the media spotlight. ProPublica recently explored Solomon’s relationship with associates of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and CNN looked Monday night at the connection between The Hill’s owner, Jimmy Finkelstein, and Trump, Giuliani and Solomon.

Birnbaum referred questions to Bob Cusack, The Hill’s editor-in-chief, who did not immediately respond for comment.

Cusack informed staff on Monday that The Hill is dedicated "to accurate, non-partisan reporting and standards" and would be “reviewing, updating, annotating, and when appropriate, correcting any opinion pieces [by Solomon] referenced during the ongoing congressional inquiry.”

In the staff memo, Cusack reiterated that The Hill is a "non-partisan" publication is committed to giving voice to views across the political divide."

Solomon’s work has come up several times during impeachment testimony. Former U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch on Friday denied an allegation from Ukraine’s former top prosecutor that she gave Ukraine’s then-top prosecutor a list of who not to prosecute. “Yovanovitch says John Solomon's columns were used to push false allegations,” read a headline in The Hill.

Solomon, who left The Hill in September and his now a contributor for Fox News, where he was a frequent guest this past year, has repeatedly defended his reporting.

"I stand by each and every one of the columns that I wrote and that The Hill (both editors and lawyers) carefully vetted,” Solomon told POLITICO on Friday. “All facts in those stories are substantiated to original source documents and statements."

During his opening remarks on Tuesday, Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking Republican member of the Intelligence Committee, also defended Solomon’s work and accused the media of “furiously smearing and libeling” the journalist.