Filmmaker Michael Moore and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) on Monday accused media outlets of ignoring the West Virginia teacher strikes in order to cover the Russia investigation and allegations about President Donald Trump's sex life.
Moore, Sanders, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) participated in a live-streamed "Inequality in America" town hall in Washington, D.C., where they talked about poverty, the rise of oligarchy, and income inequality.
Moore, a liberal activist, said that the West Virginia Education Association (WVEA) teachers' strike scored an "amazing victory" a couple weeks ago that "brought down the state's apparatus" in order to get a 5 percent pay raise. He then spoke directly to Sanders, who caucuses with the Democratic Party, to note that he "didn't see hardly anything" in the "corporate media" about the strike.
"Bernie, I didn't see hardly anything in the corporate media about this, on any of the networks, even some of the networks that we watch were you know—Russia, turn the channel, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia," Moore said. "I'm not saying that's not important."
"Talk about Stormy Daniels," Sanders said, referring to a porn star alleged to have had a relationship with Trump.
Moore then referred to the coverage of Daniels, Russia, and the divorce of Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as "shiny keys to distract us."
"We should know about the West Virginia teacher strike and the victory—what an inspiration that would be around the country," Moore said.
"They don't show this, Bernie, because what would happen if they did?" Moore said.
"In a so-called conservative red state, teachers stood up and fought back and won," Sanders said.
CNN's coverage over the last year has focused heavily on special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into whether Trump's presidential campaign colluded with the Kremlin to win the 2016 election. Despite the extensive coverage, one of the network's reporters, Maeve Reston, publicly admitted during an interview that people "don’t care" about the Russia investigation.