Dana Bash Had to Distance CNN From Katie Porter's Outlandish Claims

Katie Porter sat down for an interview with CNN's Dana Bash yesterday, and it was not her finest moment. Despite lagging in the polls for California governor, Porter is, as our Matt Vespa pointed out, "still grappling with questions of character and temperament."

It won't help her that the claims she made in the interview were so outlandish that Bash was forced to do some journalistic CYA at the end of the segment.

HOLY S**T! Katie Porter just wrapped up an interview with CNN that did so HORRENDOUSLY that even the host had to spend time at the end to distance the TRASH NEWS NETWORK from her statements.

You know it's bad if even DNN has to push back.

California is F*CKED if they elect any… pic.twitter.com/zlHV6XzwjD

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) May 11, 2026

"Congresswoman, thank you for coming on. I should note that we don't have evidence that Steyer leaked that video of you," Bash said. "If you have it, please bring it. And also, you said some pretty tough stuff about Xavier Becerra, if he wants to come back on the show, he's more than welcome to do that as well. Thank you for being here today, I appreciate it."

Ouch.

Here are the segments, by the way.

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Here are the two segments where Porter made the claims that even CNN had to push back on. @katieporterca you might want to drop out and forget about holding any office especially if your allies in the news are DEMOLISHING your incessant screeds.

Dipsht. https://t.co/kv3F5SUnAl pic.twitter.com/GVcBzfuL8M

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) May 11, 2026

We'll ignore the fact that Porter isn't in Congress. Bash was clearly so rattled by whatever her producers were telling her in her ear she slipped up.

She’s boiling the potatoes in her head. pic.twitter.com/FHtrnLRbRx

— TheJerseyGirl (@ChristineX2024) May 11, 2026

She did not look happy at all.

That woman has zero chance of being governor and that is rather bad considering the left what vote for a rock over a republican.

— Jamison (@Jamison247) May 11, 2026

Porter is barely reaching double digits in some polls, which means her campaign is that bad.

Thanks goodness thousands of miles and a lack of scalding hot mashed potatoes separated these two... yikes. https://t.co/FH0lTkHUjj

— Chris Averill 🇺🇸 (@ChrisAverillMT) May 11, 2026

Bash is probably relieved.