CNN anchor Poppy Harlow said Thursday that President Trump ’s attacks on the media are „unacceptable“ in the wake of a series of bombs mailed to the network…
CNN anchor Poppy Harlow said Thursday that President Trump ’s attacks on the media are „unacceptable“ in the wake of a series of bombs mailed to the network’s offices and prominent Democratic officials.
„To be attacked by the president last night and again this morning, it’s unacceptable,“ Harlow told The Hollywood Reporter .
„But I think the most powerful response that we all as journalists have is to go on the air and do our job,“ she added.
Harlow had to evacuate the network’s office on Wednesday in the middle of a broadcast after a suspicious package was reported on the premises.
Harlow’s concern over Trump’s remarks were echoed by colleagues like Alisyn Camerota, who told The Hollywood Reporter that she was optimistic immediately following Trump’s calls for unity that the president had turned the page.
„But I wasn’t terribly hopeful,“ added Camerota, who hosts CNN’s „New Day.“
CNN received a suspicious package on Wednesday similar to the ones found that day addressed to former President Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Eric Holder and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
The president has explicitly criticized each individual and some blame him for an escalation of tensions against them.
In the wake of the threats, CNN President Jeff Zucker laid into Trump and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders for their sustained attacks toward the press.
During White House remarks on Wednesday afternoon, Trump called for unity and pledged a „major federal investigation“ into the threats.
Hours later, at a rally in Wisconsin, the president again called for „peace and harmony“ before pointing the finger at political rivals and the media for causing the hostile climate.
„Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective,“ he said. „The language of moral condemnation and destructive routines, these are arguments and disagreements that have to stop.“
„The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostilities and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories,“ Trump added.
In a tweet Thursday morning the president suggested that „purposely false and inaccurate reporting“ was a „very big part“ of the fraying political discourse.
The president’s allies point to Waters as someone who encouraged hostility toward political enemies. In June, she called on people to confront Trump Cabinet officials in public spaces like restaurants and department stores to protest the administration’s policies.
But Trump’s critics have pointed to the president’s heated rhetoric toward the media and Democrats throughout his presidency, which Trump did not cite as a cause of anger.
Trump has regularly derided negative coverage as „fake news,“ has labeled the press the „enemy of the people,“ and also suggested that coverage of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “ treasonous “ because it was not positive enough.
He has labeled Democrats an „angry mob,“ and in recent days claimed without evidence the party is funding a caravan of Central American migrants headed for the U. S. border.
