On Thursday morning’s New Day, CNN host Jim Sciutto interviewed Tulsa City Council Vice Chair, Vanessa Hall-Harper, about President Trump’s upcoming campaign rally in the city. Sciutto used the interview to paint the event as a looming crisis by suggesting that many the attendees will contract COVID-19 and that white supremacists will attend in order to perpetrate violence.
Sciutto began by asking Hall-Harper if the Trump rally would be "endangering the people of Tulsa":
Tell me the reaction to you on the health concerns here. Because of course, the President insisting on having this rally indoors, exactly the kind of venue that health experts say is the perfect place for the virus to be transmitted. Indoors, crowded, lots of people talking, shouting, expelling droplets, et cetera. You have noted the mayor has the authority to prevent this from happening. The mayor has expressed anxiety about this event. By letting it go forward, is the mayor, is the governor endangering the people of Tulsa? The people of Oklahoma?
Predictably, the local liberal politician agreed with Sciutto's fears: "I believe so. Absolutely, I believe so, because they have the authority to stop it." She then blasted Trump:
And this, again, was allowed to happen, I believe, because the President is who he is. And certainly, it doesn't and surely because this is a red state, those exceptions were made. I would venture to say if presidential candidate Biden had asked the answer would probably have been "No." But, you know, who knows? But it is a very grave concern, certainly on the public health level here in Tulsa. We have yesterday reported 96 additional cases, which is the largest spike of positive cases that we’ve experienced since the crisis began. And it is of concern. Trump himself sees wearing a mask as weak and will berate anyone who chooses or wants to wear a mask, sees it as a sign of weakness. And so I am very concerned about the potential aftermath of what's going to happen here, not only as it relates to our public health, but also potentially what could happen in our community, because there could very well be some negative confrontations that take place.
However, Sciutto and his fellow CNN anchors have consistently praised recent Black Lives Matters protests, despite the fact that many individuals attended such protests without masks. Furthermore, in the same show, Sciutto and his fellow anchor, Alisyn Camerota, praised Black Lives Matter protest efforts in the Tulsa area. Are only Trump supporters susceptible to contracting the virus?
At the end of her discussion of COVID-19 concerns, Hall-Harper mentioned that she was afraid that there will be “negative confrontations” due to the Trump rally. Sciutto responded with a softball question, in which he did not even ask if it was legitimate for her to fear such confrontations: “How concerned are you about confrontations like that?” Hall-Harper eagerly engaged in the fear mongering:
I’m very concerned. The atmosphere here is tense and it's growing more and more tense. Rumors are spreading about situations that have possibly taken place. I'm looking to try to confirm or deny just as people are coming into town in preparation and visiting our city, that there has been some, some negative you know, confrontations. Nothing that have blown out of proportion yet, but I think as we get closer again, the atmosphere is growing more and more tense and I’m very concerned that something bad will happen.
Sciutto then blamed white supremacists for the violence that has broken out at recent protests and suggested that this could be a concern in Tulsa: "There has been concern that demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd have attracted extremist groups including white supremacist groups that have deliberately sparked violence. Are you concerned about that in Tulsa this weekend?" Hall-Harper proclaimed: "Absolutely. Absolutely. We know that, that Trump has a pretty large following of, of extremists."
The anchor made such statements despite far-left activists such as Antifa being responsible for much of the violence at recent protests. In fact, since the death of George Floyd, leftist protesters have injured and killed a significant number of police officers. For her part, Hall-Harper blamed supposedly extreme, gun carrying Trump supporters. Ironically, despite recent leftist attacks on law enforcement, Hall-Harper pointed out how the police are necessary for keeping the peace: “I know that the police department and, and others in law enforcement are trying to make sure that doesn't happen.”
The full June 18th transcript is here:
CNN New Day
06/18/20
7:47 AM ET
JIM SCIUTTO: Tell me the reaction to you on the health concerns here. Because of course, the President insisting on having this rally indoors, exactly the kind of venue that health experts say is the perfect place for the virus to be transmitted. Indoors, crowded, lots of people talking, shouting, expelling droplets, et cetera. You have noted the mayor has the authority to prevent this from happening. The mayor has expressed anxiety about this event. By letting it go forward, is the mayor, is the governor endangering the people of Tulsa? The people of Oklahoma?
VANESSA HALL-HARPER (VICE CHAIR, TULSA CITY COUNCIL): I believe so. Absolutely, I believe so, because they have the authority to stop it. The arena, the BOK Arena, was closed to the end of July because of the covid crisis. And this, again, was allowed to happen, I believe, because the President is who he is. And certainly, it doesn't and surely because this is a red state, those exceptions were made. I would venture to say if presidential candidate Biden had asked the answer would probably have been "No." But, you know, who knows? But it is a very grave concern, certainly on the public health level here in Tulsa. We have yesterday reported 96 additional cases, which is the largest spike of positive cases that we’ve experienced since the crisis began. And it is of concern. Trump himself sees wearing a mask as weak and will berate anyone who chooses or wants to wear a mask, sees it as a sign of weakness. And so I am very concerned about the potential aftermath of what's going to happen here, not only as it relates to our public health, but also potentially what could happen in our community, because there could very well be some negative confrontations that take place.
SCIUTTO: How concerned are you about confrontations like that?
HALL-HARPER: I’m very concerned. The atmosphere here is tense and it's growing more and more tense. Rumors are spreading about situations that have possibly taken place. I'm looking to try to confirm or deny just as people are coming into town in preparation and visiting our city, that there has been some, some negative you know, confrontations. Nothing that have blown out of proportion yet, but I think as we get closer again, the atmosphere is growing more and more tense and I’m very concerned that something bad will happen.
SCIUTTO: There has been concern that demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd have attracted extremist groups including white supremacist groups that have deliberately sparked violence. Are you concerned about that in Tulsa this weekend?
HALL-HARPER: Absolutely. Absolutely. We know that, that Trump has a pretty large following of, of extremists. People that want to carry around automatic weapons. Oklahoma is a Constitutional carry state and that, that is certainly of concern. That is something of concern. And I mean, I don't think that it will take much. Now, I know that the police department and, and others in law enforcement are trying to make sure that doesn't happen, but all one must do is look around this country to see that things can go -- that things can turn very bad, very quickly and I'm concerned about that for my community.
SCIUTTO: Goodness. Well, we'll be watching closely. We hope that's not how it turns out. Vanessa Hall-Harper, thanks for joining the program this morning.
