On Wednesday morning, CNN News Central (and MSNBC’s Morning Joe and shows on both networks since) went to the mat for the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration by excusing their lack of public appearances on Monday’s third-anniversary of the deadly Islamic terror attack on Abbey Gate in Kabul, Afghanistan and instead attacked former President Trump for going to Arlington National Cemetery with some of the families of the 13 American soldiers killed.
No, instead of calling out the President or Vice President for refusing to say their names or call the grieving families, they disgustingly touted anonymous sources from Arlington National Cemetery that Trump desecrated and maimed the hallowed ground by going with his campaign staff.
The first hour of the show had not one, but four teases of something already reported at NPR! Here was co-host John Berman announcing the first:
An altercation at Arlington National Cemetery! New details about a clash between members of Donald Trump’s campaign team and a cemetery official during a visit this week. Was the Trump team taking pictures where it should not be?
In the second, he reminded viewers of it being “hallowed ground” that Trump interferred with.
Co-host Sara Sidner opened the report, huffing about “new details” of “an incident that turned physical at Arlington National Cemetery during Donald Trump’s visit there on Monday”.
Trump-bashing correspondent Alayna Treene lamented the “back-and-forth from both sides...but what we know is that some people who worked at the cemetery had blocked members of Donald Trump’s team — members of his campaign on Monday from attending and participating in some of the wreath ceremony when Donald Trump was laying some of the wreaths on Monday to honor the 13 fallen U.S. servicemembers who were at Kabul’s Abbey Gate during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
Treene noted that Team Trump has defended the former President’s presence there by pointing to support “from the families who said that they had supported this effort” and quoted them as saying they gave “approval for President Trump’s official videographer and photographer to attend the event, ensuring these sacred moments of remembrance were respectfully captured and so we can cherish these memories forever.”
In contrast, she cited those with Arlington National Cemetery as being uneasy and even one official attempting to prevent some sort of documentation from taking place.
Treene, of course, put the onus on Trump for making this partisan:
I do think the big takeaway is that this was a moment that, of course, Donald Trump’s — they recognize was a solemn moment. This was something to honor the family members of the fallen soldiers and has been a bit tainted now by this dispute over whether or not Donald Trump had violated federal law by making this a political event — Sara.
In the second hour, CNN Vice President of Political & Special Events Mark Preston also whining about Trump being there (as opposed to verbal silence from Biden and Harris): “[w]e are seeing the campaign now play out in just about every corner of the nation.:
“Now what happened is that some of his campaign team showed up with cameras video equipment, and that is not allowed in Arlington National Cemetery. It is — it is part of the rules of decorum in those cemeteries, there appeared to be some kind of altercation. Now we’re still trying to find out the details of what exactly happened,” he added.
The third hour brought about Treene dismissing the Abbey Gate families, arguing their approval “doesn’t matter” compared to the liberal media’s anonymous sources at Arlington National Cemetery (click “expand”, emphasis mine):
But what is clear on both sides agree on is that there was some sort of incident and you can see that — when you saw that video of Donald Trump laying flowers at the burial site for some of these recent fallen soldiers. That’s known as section 6C. That is really where some of this incident, we’re told, has taken place. Now, we had heard the Trump campaign had said that someone who had worked at the cemetery had blocked members of Donald Trump’s campaign from joining him in that moment where he was laying those flowers and part of this, Donald Trump had argued, stemmed from the use of photography. Now, Trump’s campaign and Donald Trump himself have been circulating a statement from some of the family members of some of the soldiers who were killed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, particularly those who were killed at Kabul’s Abbey Gate and that incident. They said that they had given permission to the Trump campaign to film some of this. However, the Arlington National Cemetery, in a statement to CNN, said that that doesn’t matter, that their rules are that you are not allowed to have any sort of political event or have any sort of partisan campaigning taking place within Army National Military Cemetery. So, a lot of back-and-forth here and I think, you know — what — I think the bottom line is that even in a moment like this, everything becomes political and that they are, you know, different opinions on both sides of this. I think we will learn more. We are told that the Arlington National Cemetery has filed a report on this, but the Trump campaign has really been a pretty harsh in pushing back and saying that it was inappropriate for members of the cemetery staff to try and prevent them from moving forward with their plans. And so, for now, I think we — we have to wait and see how this gets resolved.
Berman then pivoted to Harris-Walz spokesman Michael Tyler and a classroom globe-sized softball inviting him to attack Trump with predictable smears, including the dubious “suckers and losers” tall tale.
Nothing about how his boss Kamala Harris and former boss Joe Biden resorted to paper statements through spokespeople and not, say, reach out to the families or, heck, join Trump at Arlington (click “expand”):
BERMAN: [I]f I can, I want to ask you about this incident at Arlington National Cemetery, Donald Trump was invited there, he says, by the families of fallen service members killed two years ago during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. But there was some kind of incident that took place. What kind of questions do you who have?
TYLER: Yeah, listen, thank you so much for having me frankly, I think this episode is pretty sad when it’s all said and done. Listen, this is what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump and his team. Donald Trump is a person who wants to make everything all about Donald Trump. He’s also somebody who has a history of defeating and degrading military service members, those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. We know he’s referred to them as suckers and losers. We know that he belittles the Medal of Honor. And so, frankly, this is, while sad, it’s not surprising coming from the Trump team. I think it’s part of what the American people have come to reject when it comes to Donald Trump, they’re sick of the toxic brand of politics are sick of the MAGA extreme — Extremism and they’re sick of a person who, no matter what the issue is, is frankly just trying to serve himself rather than doing what one should be doing as a leader, which is fighting for the American people. And that’s exactly what Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are going to be doing for the remainder of this campaign. And once they get back into the Oval Office for the next four years,
BERMAN: Donald Trump has denied he said suckers and losers. though retired General John Kelly — that is a story that has stemmed from comments that he has made.
Herein lies the issue with anonymous sources. We have no idea what their motivations were to coming forward to CNN and the outlet that originally broke this story, NPR.
Worse yet, no interview with even one family member from one of the 13 killed to explain their side of the story or talk about their loved one.
With liberal journalists, their anonymous sources are pure, government servants, not fellow liberal partisans seeking a particular outcome.
To see the relevant CNN News Central transcript from August 28, click here.
