President Trump flew to Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas on Wednesday to visit with wounded and pay his respects to the people who were killed in a pair of mass shootings over the weekend. Instead of that kicking off their political overage for the night, CBS Evening News chose to champion former Vice President and Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden for tearing into the President while campaigning in Iowa.
“It was truly an extraordinary day today with Americans on edge and the former Vice President delivering a searing indictment of President Trump's moral leadership. Joe Biden accused Mr. Trump of, quote, "fueling a literal carnage in America” with his incendiary rhetoric,” gushed anchor Norah O’Donnell.
After reporting that Biden was “in Iowa today accused President Trump of inspiring mass shootings in Texas and Pennsylvania”, political correspondent Ed O’Keefe played an uninterrupted soundbite of Biden’s anti-Trump rant that lasted 46 seconds:
How far is it from Trump saying "this is an invasion" to the shooter in El Paso declaring, quote, "this is attack is a response to Hispanic invasion of Texas"? How far is it from white supremacists and neo-Nazi in Charlottesville, Trump's very fine people, chanting, "you will replace us." To the shooter at the tree of life synagogue in Pittsburgh saying, "Jews are committed genocide on his people." I don't think it's that far at all. It's both clear language and in code. This President has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation.
In wrapping up his report, O’Keefe noted: “CBS News has learned Biden was outraged and furious by the shootings and the President's response and began writing the speech over want weekend.” To his credit though, O’Keefe added: “One other note-- Trump's aides noted the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter had posted anti-Trump messages on the internet.”
But, one thing he did leave out was the fact that President Trump denounced former KKK leader David Duke during the 2016 election. On top of that, Duke had since thrown his support behind Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) because of her unwavering anti-Semitism, which went largely ignored by the liberal media.
When CBS finally got around to reporting on the President’s visit with victims, they mainly focused on the protesters. “Now to the President's visits today to El Paso and Dayton to honor the 31 people killed in mass shootings. Protesters demanding action against gun violence were waiting for him,” O’Donnell she boasted.
The first thing correspondent Janet Shamlian highlighted in her report was a Trump supporter in a Make America Great Again hat who was getting targeted by the angry mob:
JANET SHAMLIAN: Tempers flaring at the El Paso Walmart memorial even before the President's visit today. Mourners telling a woman who came wearing a MAGA hat it was disrespectful.
PROTESTERS: That hat is hate! That hat is hate!
Shamlian also showed off how a local newspaper blasted the President and how Texas Democratic “Congresswoman Veronica Escobar turned down a White House invitation to join Mr. Trump.” She went on to hyped the “angry residents along the motorcade route and at the hospital accused the President of doing nothing to stem gun violence.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
August 7, 2019
6:31:20 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: Good evening. It was truly an extraordinary day today with Americans on edge and the former Vice President delivering a searing indictment of President Trump's moral leadership. Joe Biden accused Mr. Trump of, quote, "fueling a literal carnage in America” with his incendiary rhetoric, this just hours before the President arrived in El Paso to pay his respects to victims of the massacre, but has no far denied press cameras. Leading our coverage tonight is Ed O’Keefe.
[Cuts to video]
JOE BIDEN: We have a problem with this rising tide of supremacy, white supremacy in America. And we have a President who encourages and emboldens it.
ED O’KEEFE: Former Vice President Joe Biden in Iowa today accused President Trump of inspiring mass shootings in Texas and Pennsylvania.
BIDEN: How far is it from Trump saying "this is an invasion" to the shooter in El Paso declaring, quote, "this is attack is a response to Hispanic invasion of Texas"? How far is it from white supremacists and neo-Nazi in Charlottesville, Trump's very fine people, chanting, "you will replace us." To the shooter at the tree of life synagogue in Pittsburgh saying, "Jews are committed genocide on his people." I don't think it's that far at all. It's both clear language and in code. This President has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation.
O’KEEFE: Biden, the Democratic Party front-runner, noted that white nationalists and Ku Klux Klan leaders had celebrated Mr. Trump's 2016 election.
BIDEN: Our President has more in common with George Wallace than he does with George Washington. [Transition] Trump is trying to weaken our institutions: the press, the courts, the Congress-- precisely because they are the only checks on his power. That's what this is all about, the abuse of power.
O’KEEFE: As Biden spoke, the President tweeted from Air Force One calling Biden's speech "So boring." Told later about the tweet, Biden replied:
BIDEN: He should get a life.
[Cuts back to live]
O’DONNELL: Ed O’Keefe joins us. So what caused Biden to speak out like this today?
O’KEEFE: Well, Norah, CBS News has learned Biden was outraged and furious by the shootings and the President's response and began writing the speech over want weekend. We also spoke with the Trump campaign, which pointed out the President's response included denouncing while white supremacy. One other note-- Trump's aides noted the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter had posted anti-Trump messages on the internet.
O’DONNELL: All right, Ed O’Keefe, thank you.
Now to the President's visits today to El Paso and Dayton to honor the 31 people killed in mass shootings. Protesters demanding action against gun violence were waiting for him. Janet Shamlian has that and President's response to those demands.
[Cuts to video]
JANET SHAMLIAN: Tempers flaring at the El Paso Walmart memorial even before the President's visit today. Mourners telling a woman who came wearing a MAGA hat it was disrespectful.
PROTESTERS: That hat is hate! That hat is hate!
SHAMLIAN: A large number of protesters turned out near a hospital the President visited.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: He put a target on us, and now all these people are dead.
SHAMLIAN: Becky Canales and her husband say they're angered by the President's divisive rhetoric.
BECKY CANALES: He doesn't care. If he cared, he would do something about it, but he doesn't.
SHAMLIAN: President Trump and first lady Melania met with victims and first responders, but largely stayed out of public view. A front-page editorial in the El Paso Times attacked the President for characterizing this border town as “one of the most dangerous cities in the nation” in his state of the union speech earlier this year.
And Congresswoman Veronica Escobar turned down a White House invitation to join Mr. Trump. This morning, the President was in Dayton, Ohio, again in the role of comforter in chief, following Sunday's shooting which killed nine people.
He visited with first responders and victims. This photo was taken by hospital personnel. Press cameras were denied access to the events. Outside... Angry residents along the motorcade route and at the hospital accused the President of doing nothing to stem gun violence.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're going to Dayton first.
SHAMLIAN: As the President was leaving the White House this morning, he said he would bring up an assault weapons ban but said there was no political appetite for it at the moment. That may be the case on Capitol Hill, but in a recent poll, there seems to be plenty of will to ban the sale of assault weapons.
[Cuts back to live]
The hostility both here and in Dayton is unusual in a time of national tragedy and makes it even more difficult for the nation to heal. Here in El Paso, funerals for the victims starts tomorrow. Norah.
O’DONNELL: All right, Janet Shamlian, thank you.
