Hours after CNN’s Brian Stelter irresponsibly passed blame on the firebombing of a North Carolina Republican headquarters to Donald Trump, the Monday edition of New Day did the bare minimum to acknowledge the subject with a mere two news briefs totaling one minute and 37 seconds for a three-hour show (so 180 minutes) that almost assuredly would be higher if the incident happened at, say, a Democratic headquarters or NAACP office.
Co-host Chris Cuomo first brought it up around 6:09 a.m. Eastern and informed viewers that “federal authorities are investigating the apparent firebombing of a Republican county headquarters in North Carolina” along with a spray-painted message that read “Nazi Republicans get out of town or else.”
Cuomo added that there were no injuries but then explained that “Trump pounced on it” with a tweet reading the following: “Animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems in North Carolina just fire bombed our office in Orange County because we are winning.”
He concluded the 54-second brief by reading portions of a Hillary Clinton tweet condemning the violence and that “Democrats have launched a fundraising effort, raising thousands to help reopen the GOP office.”
Fellow co-host Alisyn Camerota read a nearly word-for-word brief in the next hour but ran for only 43 seconds and she made sure to rule that “[t]here is no evidence to support [Trump’s] claims” that Democrats were behind the bombing and graffiti.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe also covered the story but only after panelist Donnie Deutsch bemoaned the possibility of violence on Election Day by Trump supporters and caused co-host Joe Scarborough to respond by bringing up the violence that’s already been carried out against the GOP.
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All in all, the North Carolina story fetched one minute and 19 seconds of coverage and goes up to two minutes and 38 seconds if one included the fact that the first segment in the 6:00 a.m. Eastern is taped and replayed to open the 8:00 a.m. Eastern hour.
After Deutsch expressed fear that violence will break out on November 8 and took issue with a tweet by Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke, Scarborough quickly jumped in and emphasized that “this is a problem on both sides” before addressing what transpired at the Orange County, North Carolina GOP headquarters:
We have out of North Carolina the firebombing of a Republican Party headquarters, and threats scrawled on the wall and we're going to get to the story in a minute. Officials, in fact, are trying to figure out who firebombed this Republican headquarters down in Orange County, North Carolina this weekend and the building suffered massive smoke damage, and there was fire damage. And authorities say that there was a bottle that was filled with flammable substance that was thrown through the window and it happened between 9:00 Saturday night and 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning . And the vandals spray-painted a swastika and the words “Nazi Republicans get out of town or else.”
Going to the Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haas, Scarborough lamented:
And Richard Haas, this is the sort of rage that is simmering obviously, Donald Trump is saying things on the campaign trail that go — I'm not preaching moral equivalency between what the candidates are saying, I am saying though, there is rage on both sides.
The relevant portions of the transcript from CNN’s New Day on October 17 can be found below.
CNN’s New Day
October 17, 2016
6:09 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Developing This Morning; North Carolina GOP Headquarters Firebombed]
CHRIS CUOMO: Alright, so in other news, federal authorities are investigating the apparent firebombing of a Republican county headquarters in North Carolina. No one was in the building, thank God, but there was some flammable substance thrown through a window. The vandals also spray-painted a message on the building. “Nazi Republicans get out of town or else.” There have been no arrests and police have not said anything about any suspects affiliations, but in a tweet, Donald Trump pounced on it saying: “Animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems in North Carolina just fire bombed our office in Orange County because we are winning.” Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton condemned the attack calling it: “[H]orrific and unacceptable. Very grateful to see everyone is safe.” Democrats have launched a fundraising effort, raising thousands to help reopen the GOP office.
(....)
7:11 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Developing This Morning; North Carolina GOP Headquarters Firebombed]
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Alright, Chris. Listen to this story. Federal authorities are trying to figure out who firebombed a Republican headquarters in North Carolina. No one was in the building when a flammable substance was thrown through a window. The vandals also spray-painted a message on the building. “Nazi Republicans get out of town or else.” Now in a tweet, Donald Trump said: “Animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems in North Carolina just [bombed] our office in Orange County because we are winning.” There is no evidence to support his claims. Hillary Clinton condemned the attack, calling it: “[H]orrific and unacceptable. Very grateful to see everyone is safe.” Democrats have launched a fundraising effort, raising thousands of dollars to help reopen that Republican office.
