The Democratic National Committee (DNC) barred the online video platform Rumble from streaming the party’s nominating convention in Chicago, according to Rumble’s CEO.
On Monday, Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski wrote on X that the company “reached out numerous times to the DNC” to cover the four-day programming “just like we did at the RNC.”
“We finally received a response,” Pavlovski announced, explaining the Democrats “wouldn’t let us stream, but instead offered to sell us two convention tickets for $200,000.”
“We declined,” he said.
“We wanted to show the Rumble audience what was happening at the DNC, not pay for a lobbying opportunity,” Pavlovski told The Federalist in a statement. “Rumble is about freedom and transparency, not restrictions and back room deals.”
Democrats suffered a turbulent kickoff to their convention Monday with pro-Palestinian demonstrators threatening to disrupt proceedings while reporters complained about logistics that left the auditorium with vacant seats for opening speakers.
President Joe Biden addressed the convention late Monday night beyond the prime-time window before jetting off to California for the rest of the week while his vice president replaces him for the nomination Thursday. “We’re in a battle for the very soul of America,” Biden said, echoing past remarks from his campaign kickoff for the 2022 midterms, when the president delivered a dark and divisive speech in Philadelphia flanked by Marines against a blood-red background.
Harris became the presumptive nominee four weeks ago after Democrats triumphantly booted the incumbent president off the ticket, leaving many attendees in Chicago with resentment as the party launched the fall campaign.
“We head to Chicago on a wave of euphoria, exuberance, exultation, excitement and even, you might say, ecstasy,” reported New York Times opinion writer Maureen Dowd, “except that everyone’s mad at one another.”
Biden spoke as House Republicans also unveiled a nearly 300-page report outlining a trove of evidence from congressional investigators that lawmakers say warrants impeachment. Republicans released the report on the morning of the president’s speech. The report found that the president, his family, and their associates capitalized on Biden’s occupation of high public offices to rake in $27 million from foreign individuals and entities since 2014. The Biden family funneled the money through shell corporations established “to conceal these payments from scrutiny,” successfully steering clear of genuine oversight until the final year of the president’s term.
“The Biden family used proceeds from these business activities to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars to Joe Biden,” lawmakers reported, “including thousands of dollars that are directly traceable to China.”
If articles of impeachment are drafted, however, they are unlikely to come before Election Day in November.
Vice President Harris, in the meantime, has refused to have any major interviews or press conferences for the first 30 days of her candidacy, according to Fox News, which is tracking her lack of press appearances.
If she eventually does offer an interview just weeks before the first voters go to the polls, the questions are more likely to come from a friendly pundit such as George Stephanopoulos than someone like Bret Baier. While former President Donald Trump has challenged Harris to the traditional schedule of three full debates, Harris has only agreed to one match-up conducted by ABC News. The same select media bias was reflected by the DNC’s media credentialing when the party denied Rumble access to the Chicago convention.
