In an ongoing climate of political violence, you would think that the legacy nightly news would devote significant air time to a threat to assassinate a senior member of the Cabinet. But, alas, that did not happen. CBS and ABC both omitted the story from their evening newscasts.
NBC Nightly News was the only newscast to devote a story to this plot. Watch the report in its entirety as aired on Monday, October 27th, 2025:
TOM LLAMAS: Back here at home, the FBI arresting a man after a disturbing threat targeting Attorney General Pam Bondi. The suspect, in a TikTok post, offering $45,000 to have her killed. Here’s Kelly O'Donnell.
KELLY O’DONNELL: Tonight, a disturbing threat discovered by a scrolling tiktok user. A post that offered tens of thousands of dollars to kill Attorney General Pam Bondi. A 29-year-old Minnesota man, Tyler Maxon Avalos, now faces one federal charge for transmitting that threat that investigators tracked on social media. According to the FBI, a TikTok post linked to Avalos read in part: “Wanted. Pam Bondi, preferably dead,” and referred to a reward of $45,000. Court documents include an image which we are not showing, with a photo of Bondi with a sniper’s scope red dot on Bondi’s forehead. TikTok, Google and Comcast, parent company of NBC, helped the FBI trace the suspect, according to the affidavit, which also states Avalos has a criminal history, convicted of stalking and domestic battery. Bondi declined comment, but has pledged the DoJ will root out threats in this heated environment.
PAM BONDI: We cannot allow this political violence to continue any longer.
O’DONNELL: This suspect was released with the requirement to wear a GPS tracker. And he has not yet entered a plea. And, Tom, in a separate case today, the judge overseeing the trial in the political assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk granted the suspect’s request so that he can wear civilian clothes, not a jail uniform for his future court appearances. Tom.
LLAMAS: OK, Kelly. Thank you.
Understandably, there were more pressing items for the other networks to cover. For ABC, there was former NFL star Adrian Peterson’s DUI arrest, and a chicken recall. CBS had a pharmaceutical item to run. NBC isn’t exempt from criticism either, inasmuch as the item was buried at the end of A-block. But at least they ran something.
It is appalling that CBS and ABC would omit a murder plot that was advertised on social media. The last several months have been rife with political violence and this should’ve drawn significantly more coverage given the seriousness of the allegations. As if to put a fine point on this, note how Kelly O’Donnell’s item ended- with an update on the trial of Charlie Kirk’s assassin that CBS and ABC didn’t cover, either. Reasonable people are led to conclude that these networks are actively suppressing anything remotely adjacent to left-wing violence.
