On Monday night, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department confirmed that leaked pages of the Nashville Covenant School shooter’s manifesto were indeed authentic. And while the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) and the liberal cable outlets (CNN and MSNBC) refused to acknowledge the leak, NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo took to his eponymous show that evening to call out the local authorities and proclaim “This is what you get when you're not transparent.”
During his opening monologue, Cuomo teased that he would be discussing the manifesto and that he had strong criticisms of how it was handled. “What the manifesto supposedly says is being weaponized. Not a surprise. But I'll tell you one. I don't blame the fringe folk who are playing to advantage. That's the nature of our social media reality in our politics,” he lamented. “I blame the authorities for this latest controversy. And I'll tell you why.”
Finally getting around to the leaked manifesto pages in the latter half of the show, Cuomo huffed that the manifesto was going to be “weaponized” by “the right” because of the shooter’s hatred toward them:
Here's why I don't care. Obviously, whatever in there is and there is going to be weaponized. The suspicion was always that because the right wanted a lot more than the left was that whatever is in there was going to be good for them. And you know what it is because it's all about her wanting to go after white people. If that's even right, if it’s even accurate.
It's worth noting that Cuomo’s segment aired before the Metro PD confirmed the authenticity of the leaked pages.
But Cuomo’s harshest words were reserved for the authorities who tried to hide the manifesto from the public. “This is what you get when you're not transparent. This is what you get for not releasing the manifesto. If they just put it out in the beginning when they had it, give me one good reason not to,” he demanded of a guest who feared the manifesto would inspire more mass shooters.
“Tell people what you know and dispel the mythology!...You made it powerful by not wanting people to see it,” Cuomo exclaimed, arguing that by not releasing the manifesto, authorities were allowing “fringe people” to invent their own narrative. “And that's where you are with this. She's dead. There is no prosecution. If the families don't like it. I understand that sensitivity. But look what it's doing to us now.”
As he was nearing the end of the segment, Cuomo blasted the general lack of transparency from the governments in America (local, state, and federal) as the “big infection in the society” that was doing a lot more damage than releasing the manifesto ever could.
“It’s people making decisions to keep information from the public. And that is sowing dissent a lot more. We are never going to be convinced by people like this to be like her. But you will be convinced that the information they don't want you to have has power,” he declared.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
NewsNation’s Cuomo
November 6, 2023
8:02:36 p.m. Eastern(…)
CHRIS CUOMO: Now, we also breaking news on our watch. Parts of the Nashville school covenant shooter's manifesto leaked reportedly. You remember three kids, three teachers murdered by a transgender sociopath. What the manifesto supposedly says is being weaponized. Not a surprise. But I'll tell you one. I don't blame the fringe folk who are playing to advantage. That's the nature of our social media reality in our politics. I blame the authorities for this latest controversy. And I'll tell you why.
(…)
8:46:14 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: Okay. Two really hot and hard questions. Last March, 28 year-old Andrea [sic] [Aubrey] Hale transgender – in my opinion, sociopath; based on what we understand about what she was saying –gunned down and killed three young kids and three teachers at her former Nashville elementary school.
Tonight, we have breaking news about the shooter's manifesto. As you might remember, it was never released. It was a source of a lot of controversy. The news is now that it was leaked, at least in part. And that was confirmed by one local Fox affiliate hasn't been confirmed by the Nashville police. And I don't care. And I'll tell you why, with to better minds: High-profile defense attorney Mark Geragos and Florida State Prosecutor Dave Aronberg.
Here's why I don't care. Obviously, whatever in there is and there is going to be weaponized. The suspicion was always that because the right wanted a lot more than the left was that whatever is in there was going to be good for them. And you know what it is because it's all about her wanting to go after white people. If that's even right, if it’s even accurate.
But here's why I don't care. Okay? Ehrenberg you understand politics and the law. This is what you get when you're not transparent. This is what you get for not releasing the manifesto. If they just put it out in the beginning when they had it, give me one good reason not to.
DAVE ARONBERG: Chris. I think the good reason not to is it encourages more mass shooters. If they think this is how they get their ridiculous messages across. I mean, I think of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber he bombed and killed all these people because he wanted his manifesto read and he got it published. But of course, that's how they caught him. In his case, the shooter is dead. So, if you publish it, it just encourages more shooters.
CUOMO: All right. I'm fine. I'm fine with you. But that's policy. Mark. They put these things out all that I do this time. They decided not to.
MARK GERAGOS: Yeah. By the way, in most of the cases where you have these people doing this, you're dealing with people who have – are severely mentally ill. And if somebody is going invest their political ideology in the ramblings of somebody who is mentally ill, that doesn't really reflect well on your own ideology. I agree with you Chris. I would put it out and give it what its due, which is virtually nothing.
CUOMO: Yeah, because look, we keep making the same mistake in this democracy through our government, really mostly – which is make it, whether it's even something like the UFOs. Tell people what you know and dispel the mythology! That's the same thing here. You made it powerful by not wanting people to see it. And now it gives fringe people an opportunity to say, “I'll tell you why they did want you to see it.” And that's where you are with this. She's dead. There is no prosecution. If the families don't like it. I understand that sensitivity. But look what it's doing to us now. Dave.
ARONBERG: Yeah, I hear you and we are rife with conspiracy theories all over the place. So, I agree transparency, but I understand why there's a reluctance among some to publish the rants and raves of these lunatics; because there are a lot of those folks out there and people don't listen to them until they shoot up a school. Then they get their names put in every paper across the country and now they get they do it anyway are words. I don't want to encourage more it.
CUOMO: They do it anyway. I can't believe I even just said her name. I think it's the first time I've ever said it. I have a policy that I try to stick to of not saying their names. So you tamp down the notoriety.
But all I'm saying is our big infection in the society right now isn't people like her. It’s people making decisions to keep information from the public. And that is sowing dissent a lot more. We are never going to be convinced by people like this to be like her. But you will be convinced that the information they don't want you to have has power.
(…)
