Cal Cunningham Holds Disastrous Press Conference, Ensures Affair Scandals Will Not Go Away
Cunnigham was asked four times if there were other women he’d had affairs with. He repeatedly refused to answer, instead telling reporters he had “taken responsibility for the hurt that I’ve caused in my personal life.”
Scandal-plagued Democrat Senate nominee Cal Cunningham held what his campaign described as a Zoom press conference earlier today to discuss his Republican opponent Sen. Thom Tillis’s supposed “failures” on the Wuhan Coronavirus relief bill.
It didn’t go well.
Instead of first addressing the affair scandals that have consumed his campaign since the start of October, Cunningham spent the first 30-35 minutes talking about North Carolina needing additional Wuhan virus funding and how Tillis had allegedly failed to deliver help for local residents who need it.
He and a campaign staffer (who was not seen on camera) “interviewed” local constituents and community leaders who talked about how they were struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic. At no point did you see anyone on camera other than Cunningham, even when other people were talking, which was very odd and at times awkward. It came off as a hastily arranged and scripted campaign event, obviously designed to distract from the questions he’s been dodging for the last week.
It came off that way because that’s exactly what it was. In fact, once Cunningham was done “interviewing” local supporters, the off-camera staffer quickly announced they were “running out of time” and could only take 10 minutes of questions from the media.
Not a single reporter asked about Coronavirus relief funding. The all got straight to the point, with the first two (predictably) openly apologizing and lamenting about the fact they even had to ask the question:
First reporter who asks Cal Cunningham a question about affairs scandal actually *apologized* for asking it before he asked. Unbelievable. I think it was Gary Robertson from the AP. #ncpol #ncsen
— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020
Brian Murphy from McClatchy says in so many words he laments having to ask Cal Cunningham question about affairs scandal. Is there ANYONE from the #NCPOL media who will not act apologetic about having to do their jobs on this call?? #NCSEN
— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020
But after that, reporters who actually were interested in getting answers from Cunningham went after him like pit bulls while Cunningham kept giving scripted answers about how he had “taken responsibility for the hurt that I’ve caused in my personal life”:
Joe Bruno from WSOC shows how it’s done: “With all due respect, you did not answer Brian Murphy’s question. Are there more women?” Cal Cunningham does not answer the question, continues to say this is a distraction from pandemic issues. #ncpol #ncsen
— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020
Laura Leslie from WRAL asks the question again and Cal doesn’t answer again! He keeps repeating his short apology and then talks about Thom Tillis
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) October 9, 2020
Now @Sharrison_WFAE asks a fourth time. “I’ve said what I’m going to say about it. I’ve answered the question” related to his extramarital relations. Dodged question four times #ncpol
— Nick Ochsner (@NickOchsnerWBTV) October 9, 2020
Watch below as questions are asked about if there are other women out there, and how Cunningham dodges:
Watch the recap of Cal Cunningham dodging multiple questions about additional affairs during his presser:
"I'm not hearing you say there aren't other women"
"He did not answer the direct questions about whether or not there are other women"
What else is @CalforNC hiding? pic.twitter.com/bDXkSDMg5S
— Chris Martin (@chrisjdmartin) October 9, 2020
You could really tell close to the end of it that the reporters felt agitated and used as props for his campaign. Travis Fain from Ralegh-based-WRAL summed up the call:
Asked 4 times whether there are more affairs yet unrevealed, #ncpol Senate candidate Cal Cunningham declined to say. There was probably a version of this presser that started to put this affair(s) in the rearview. The Cunningham campaign did not attempt that version. #NCsen
— Travis Fain (@TravisFain) October 9, 2020
The national media, who outside of the AP have been largely silent on this story, are finally paying closer attention to this race, too:
I've updated this post with North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham's disastrous news conference today, where he couldn't deny there might be even more affair allegations with other women. https://t.co/tHq3fdmkFm
— Amber Phillips (@byamberphillips) October 9, 2020
I’ve followed the North Carolina political press corps and their reporting for a good decade or so, and I can tell you that it takes a lot for a Democrat to get on their bad side. He did that today, which was not a smart move on his campaign’s part going into the home stretch of the race.
In any event, the following questions remain unanswered:
To date, Cal Cunningham has failed to address the following questions:
1) If he will, like Guzman Todd, confirm the affair. So far, he has not said anything about it beyond acknowledging the sexting. #ncpol #ncsen
— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020
2) Will Democrat Senate nominee Cal Cunningham confirm or deny the second affair allegation, the one where he allegedly has been seeing another woman since 2012? #ncpol #ncsen
— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020
3) At any point was/were Cal Cunningham’s affair(s?) conducted on military premises and/or on military time? #ncpol #ncsen
— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020
I think the fact that he hasn’t denied any of the allegations against him to date speaks volumes as to what the answer is to the yes or no questions being asked of him. Much like the Biden-Harris campaign’s refusal to answer whether or not they’d pack the Supreme Court, it’s what Cunningham is not telling us that is most revealing about the real Cal Cunningham.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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Comments
In my experience, any time someone says, “I take full responsibility,” it means, “I have no intention of doing anything about this; now shut up”
the USAR Article 134 investigation should prove interesting.
he’ll be lucky if he can escape with just a General, other than honorable discharge…
if there is any justice, he’ll get time, and a Big Chicken Dinner.
I don’t expect the USAR investigation to result in court martial. Generally someone has to be on active duty to be subject to prosecution under the UCMJ. Still I can’t imagine the USAR or the JAG corps can let this go entirely.
One of the reasons I suspect “good ol’ boy and “ambassador for North Carolina BBQ (hot dogs and hamburgers on brioche rolls?!?!)” Cal Cunningham to stay out of reach of the UCMJ is that while doing a very stupid thing he may have been just smart enough not to do it during any periods of active duty or during a paid drill period. But if he’s involved an ongoing affair with the wife of a senior enlisted man/junior officer (it appears he was accepted to the Army’s Green-to-Gold program) and he manages to skirt the law is that supposed to be admirable behavior. An injured Soldier to boot. Apparently he was injured during a proficiency jump during the past few years. And he recently underwent medical evaluations and submitted his request for Continuation On Active Duty. Which was denied. By recently it appears he was denied this month, the same month Cal & Arlene’s sexts became public, and Arlene confirmed they had at least one in person encounter involving physical intimacy.
I’ve seen far more egregious violations of article 134 not go to court martial. Such as the famous “Sex on the Beach” incident in Guam back in the ’90s. The CO of the Marine det. aboard the 7th Fleet Flagship Blue Ridge, an Ensign, and a female Petty Officer from the same ship got drunk and decided to have a threesome on the beach.
They chose the stretch of beach in front of the picture window of a restaurant that the Battle Group officers had reserved for a party following completion of an exercise. So the Captain is going it it from the rear, the Ensign was on the receiving end at the front, with the E-5 an enthusiastic participant in the middle.
One of the things that really PO’d the Admiral was that the entire Battle Group wardroom was standing at the picture window cheering them on. Alcohol, I believe, was involved.
None of these individuals went to court martial. I was on staff at Commander, Naval Forces Japan and I would have known if the 7th Fleet had convened a court martial. They went to Admiral’s Mast* and drummed out of the service under other than honorable conditions. The Marine Captain got a free flight to D.C. so the Commandant of the Marines Corps could personally strip the rank off of the Captain’s dress blues.
Unless I’m pleasantly surprised I calculate that’s the worst that will happen to “good ol’ boy and ambassador for North Carolina BBQ” Cal Cunningham.
*In the Navy an accused individual can refuse Mast and request a court martial except if they are attached to a sea going command. And 7th Fleet is a sea going command.
I dunno. I, personally, have taken “full responsibility” for taking down a client’s routerfirewall in the middle of the day while following the vendor’s documentation and dealing with a migraine…. But, hey, I’m someone who believes in personal responsibility so….
Doesn’t matter, the communists will still vote for him. It’s not as if they believe in things like morals or ethics.
How dumb can people be to text or call
On their phones
There are burner phones, voice disguises, and dummy accounts
I wouldn’t vote for him not only cause he’s a slime ball, but because he’s just stupid
“I’ve followed the North Carolina political press corps and their reporting for a good decade or so, and I can tell you that it takes a lot for a Democrat to get on their bad side.”
Which makes me wonder if the Joseph Goebbels media is trying to pull a Lautenberg and replace Cunningham before the election, just to hedge their bets on a Communist sweep of the White House, House and Senate this November.
At any rate, I still think it is only a matter of time before the wife either makes a statement of forgiveness in public or releases it in a written form. The pressure being brought to bear on her to save his campaign must be colossal.
WAY OT: one of the men arrested for allegedly plotting to kidnap the Queen of Michigan was pardoned last year by Delaware Governor John Carney.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3892248/posts
Re spousal forgiveness. There are still 3 (I think) 60 Minutes broadcasts between now and election day. Check your local listings. It worked for Slick Willie.
Spousal forgiveness worked in Hilarity’s case because she was more power mad than Slick. I know nothing about Cunningham’s wife and whether she is just along for the ride or wants to be in the driver seat by the end of the trip. I couldn’t find any information about her on the web, which suggests that she is a behind the scenes player, and thus, in my opinion, will not react well to the public humiliation.
Geez, ya think the Dems have a sex problem? Know wonder they are so for abortion. Between, Weiner, Winstein, Epstein, Harris, Monkey Business Gary Hart, Cunningham…….. What about that guy in FL whose gay sex buddy OD on him? The Rep from Cal that they are making a Netflix about? Oh, what about Shiffy and Ed Buck?
Those are the ones we know.
Not to take a moral high ground, but I guess it is easy to guess why they are out to get Trump. I wonder what Flynn has on them? What happen to Rogers?
I’ve been trying to figure out why ultra-Lib WRAL-TV, the local Raleigh TV station has been out front engaging in actual journalism in this tempest in an I-pod involving progressive Col. Cunningham. Then it hit me.
Cunningham defeated Erica Smith in the Democrat primary, the even more progressive Black female candidate.
What say you, Stacey?
A public court martial is necessary to reveal the of Cunningham’s crimes.
It was the Bill Clinton bimbo eruption strategy, and it worked for him all the way through impeachment.
Don’t tell Cal, but he’s no Slick Willie. He’s not even John Edwards.
My dad was a Chief in the USAF, and from time to time he had to deal with misconduct in the workplace. He said that there was absolutely nothing more corrosive to unit cohesion than adultery between an officer and an enlisted man’s wife. That, apparently, is what Cunningham is accused of doing.
The husband in question was either an enlisted man, or a junior officer, depending upon when the affair started.
The Army combat veteran husband is a Non-commissioned Officer, NCO, It can be confusing. My son was an NCO in the Marines. He is beyond pissed at Cunningham’s conduct.
These are extremely mild and professional words from well disciplined military folks. More than Cunningham has a right to expect.
It’s the reporting that’s confusing.
https://news.usc.edu/101254/for-soldier-jeremy-todd-the-latest-deployment-is-at-usc/
“As part of the elite Green to Gold program, he’s pursuing an advanced degree at USC Marshall while earning a commission as an Army officer”
He applied as a SFC. Did he complete the program and was he commissioned? It appears so. In a statement demanding Cunningham drop out of the race Jeremy Todd referred to himself as a junior officer.
I hope he was commissioned. That should bump up his medical retirement/VA disability pay since his request to continue on active duty was denied by the review board, which deemed him medically unfit with 19 years in.
He deserves a little something extra after faithfully serving his country including multiple combat tours, only to be unwillingly dragged into the national spotlight by some scumbag Dem who couldn’t keep it in his pants (a redundant description on multiple levels).
We have to elect him to find out if there are others.
Well, at least we know his mistresses got to be on top. This guy can only screw up.
I guess Cal never learned the difference between his weapon and his gun.
This is my rifle, this is my gun. One is for fighting, one is for fun!!
I think Sly Cal is learning what slow cooked over hickory coals BBQ is all about
Cal is clearly in it for the pork, but seems confused between the smoked shoulder, the fluff in legislative bills, or that stuff on the side which seems to have gotten him in trouble.
This clown was doing military law on and for soldiers. Huh. Maybe review his work?
If he’s somehow elected, the Senate should refuse to seat him.
If the Dems take the Senate they’ll throw rose petals in the aisle as he strolls in.