CNN’s Oliver Darcy fires off on conservative media ‘abusing power’ and being ‘mouthpieces’

Former CNN reporter Oliver Darcy accused conservative media of abandoning its principles and acting as mouthpieces for Trump’s administration during the Status Summit this week

Former CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy delivered a sharp rebuke of conservative news outlets at the Status Summit, accusing them of abandoning their stated principles to defend President Donald Trump.

Darcy, who founded the independent media publication Status after leaving CNN, made the remarks during an onstage conversation in New York City about his career, the changing media landscape, and the challenges facing independent journalists.

When asked how conservative media had evolved since he began working in the industry, Darcy said its relationship with the Trump administration had become “really disturbing.” This comes as Trump attacked “very dumb” Kaitlan Collins after CNN anchor torched his midterms strategy.

“I think it’s been really disturbing to see how a lot of the conservative media has abandoned any sense of what they claim to be principles and just become mouthpieces for an administration that is abusing power, the power of government basically at every turn,” Darcy said.

“And these are people who claim to believe in small government,” he continued. “They claim to just want, you know, I mean, they’re, everything they have said is basically a lie, and I am just continually disturbed.”

Darcy said some conservative critics have accused him of shifting politically, calling him a “leftist” or “Benedict Arnold” because of his coverage. He argued that those critics, rather than him, had changed their positions.

“You all are the people who betrayed everything that you claimed to support,” Darcy said.

He pointed to free speech as what he described as the clearest example, accusing Trump and members of his administration of targeting critical media figures and restricting access for journalists.

“Like these people hate free speech and this was something they claimed to support like two years ago,” Darcy said. “They were talking about Trump being the free speech president and they’re being like they’re like the anti-woke, you know, anti-safe space people.”

Darcy also criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s relationship with the press, saying he and his Status podcast co-hosts refer to the Pentagon chief as “Safe Space Pete.”

“He’s created this big, big safe space,” Darcy said. “Like the guy portrays himself as a macho conservative man or whatever and he’s apparently afraid of like, you know, what he portrays as like lame weak lib journalists and he can’t take questions from them, even if at war.”

Darcy concluded that conservative media figures were not merely overlooking inconsistencies but actively supporting the president.

“I think everything they claim to support is just BS at this point,” he said. “And I’m, it’s not only that they betrayed principles but that they’re acting in service of a president who is behaving like an authoritarian.”