On Saturday morning, the same CNN that is notorious for promoting anti-gun propaganda in the immediate aftermath of mass shootings had hosts who repeatedly worried that President Donald Trump and Republicans are inappropriately using the murder of Mollie Tibbetts by an illegal immigrant as "political propaganda."
It is also notable that, a week ago, the same morning duo of Christi Paul and Victor Blackwell sympathetically highlighted the story of an illegal immigrant arrested by ICE while driving his pregnant wife to the hospital, but they never got around to informing viewers that he was wanted for murder in Mexico, but instead portrayed him as harmless.
On today's New Day Saturday, at 7:09 a.m., Paul first brought up Tibbetts as she played a clip of President Trump complaining that the media should have given the case more attention. She then turned to Bloomberg News reporter Toluse Olorunnipa and posed:
Now, we want to point out that there are family members of Mollie's who have come out and said we don't want to politicize this. Is it smart for the President or for Republicans to run with Mollie Tibbetts as the story when it comes to illegal immigration?
About half an hour later, as Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Ryan Costello appeared as a guest, co-host Blackwell played the same clip of Trump and read a quote from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich making a prediction about how Tibbetts might impact the elections. Blackwell then posed: "Is the party using her death as political propaganda? And is this an effective strategy?"
And, about an hour later, as New Jersey Republican Congressman Leonard Lance appeared as a guest, co-host Paul also referred to Trump and Gingrich before asking: "Do you support using Mollie Tibbetts as a strategy as we head into midterms?"
A few hours later on CNN Newsroom, CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy lamented that Trump would "unfortunately" continue to cite her murder to promote border security, and asserted that the President has "radicalized" a wing of the GOP on immigration.
