After President Trump’s Thursday night RNC speech, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and wife Kelley were attacked and threatened by an angry, far-left, Black Lives Matter mob upon leaving the White House (as were other attendees). But when it came to the top Friday morning network newscasts acknowledging this, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today didn’t think it was worth caring or talking about.
CBS This Morning did report on what happened thanks to 35-second news brief in which co-host Gayle King began by trumpeting the mob: “During the President's speech, protesters outside the White House used noise and fireworks to try and drown him out while he was speaking. Hundreds of demonstrators were there. Many of them dancing and playing music very loudly.”
But her tone flipped on a dime when Paul was mentioned:
One group of protesters confronted Republican Senator Rand Paul as he left the White House after the speech. Oh, boy. Video shows a police officer on a bicycle apparently holding the demonstrators back. The senator thanked police on Twitter for, in his words, “literally saving our lives.” I think that video, Anthony, is tough to watch.
Co-host Anthony Mason agreed and King concluded with a lecture to the group of maniacs, emphasizing that Paul “ought to be able to come and go” and “[s]houldn’t be attacked on the streets that way.”
And yet, Good Morning America and Today couldn’t muster a single second to denounce the indefensible despite the fact that both newscasts mentioned there were protesters opposing Trump’s speech outside the White House complex.
In the case of ABC, GMA’s silence was even more embarrassing considering the fact that their early morning newscast America This Morning had 15 seconds on an ordeal the left Paul thanking police in a tweet “for literally saving our lives from a crazed mob.”
Here was co-host Mona Kosar Abdi:
And people protesting the convention confronted Senator Rand Paul and his wife near the White House, forcing police to escort the couple to their hotel. Video shows an officer getting pushed into Paul. The senator later thanked police, saying he was “attacked by an angry mob of over 100 people.”
On Fox & Friends, Paul called for an FBI investigation into what happened, calling the ordeal “horrific” with a mob that he estimated as having grown to well over 120.
Paul added how it was rather ironic that the BLM mob was not only “shouting threats to us, to kills to hurt us,” but also demanding he “say her name” in reference to Breonna Taylor even though “I’m actually the author of the Breonna Taylor law to end no-knock raids, so the irony is lost on these idiots.”
The refusal of Good Morning America and Today to acknowledge that an angry mob nearly assaulted and injured a U.S. Senator, his wife, and two female friends was made possible by advertisers such as Advil (on ABC), Dove (on NBC), Liberty Mutual (on ABC), and Old Navy (on NBC). Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcripts from August 28, click “expand.”
CBS This Morning
August 28, 2020
7:13 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking Overnight; RNC Protests; Police & Protesters Clash as Lawmakers Leave the White House]
GAYLE KING: During the President's speech, protesters outside the White House used noise and fireworks to try and drown him out while he was speaking. Hundreds of demonstrators were there. Many of them dancing and playing music very loudly. One group of protesters confronted Republican Senator Rand Paul as he left the White House after the speech. Oh, boy. Video shows a police officer on a bicycle apparently holding the demonstrators back. The senator thanked police on Twitter for, in his words, “literally saving our lives.” I think that video, Anthony, is tough to watch.
ANTHONY MASON: Yeah.
KING: You know, he ought to be able to come and go.
MASON: Absolutely.
KING: Shouldn't be attacked on the streets that way.
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ABC’s America This Morning
August 28, 2020
4:33 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking Overnight; Sen. Rand Paul “Attacked” by Protesters; Thanks Police After Being Escorted Through Crowd]
MONA KOSAR ABDI: And people protesting the convention confronted Senator Rand Paul and his wife near the White House, forcing police to escort the couple to their hotel. Video shows an officer getting pushed into Paul. The senator later thanked police saying he was, “attacked by an angry mob of over 100 people.”
