Given how CBS Mornings and the network morning news shows covered the January 6 hearings versus the attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, it wasn’t shocking to see that a Tuesday segment warning about political violence ignored the party ID of those attacked five years ago on this date in Alexandria, Virginia (congressional Republicans), the gunman’s tilt (progressive), and the motive of the Kavanaugh suspect (also a liberal).
And when it came to the subject matter, CBS cited the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a far-left, Soros-funded group used to label mainstream conservative, Christian organizations as hate groups. The SPLC should know the costs of extremism as their so-called map of hate was used in February 2013 by a gunman who nearly murdered Family Research Council staff.
Co-host Nate Burleson introduced the segment by warning of “the rising threat of political violence” and, while that’s entirely correct, his first example was “testimony on Capitol Hill from an official who received death threats against his children from angry Trump’s supporters.”
Before going to correspondent Scott MacFarlane, Burleson whitewashed what happened to current House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) and his GOP colleagues:
Today also marks five years since a gunman opened fire on Members of Congress and staff on a baseball field. Republican Congressman Steve Scalise was seriously wounded. CBS News has learned Capitol Hill police investigated nearly 10,000 threats in just the past year. Scott MacFarlane shows us how America’s increasingly toxic politics are also becoming more dangerous.
Yes, nothing about how the gunman was an avowed Bernie Sanders supporter, MSNBC viewer, and progressive concerned about Republicans were pushing to repeal ObamaCare.
MacFarlane’s main anecdote was a Maryland man under house arrest for having “called his Congressman and left a voicemail saying he knew where the Congressman and his family lived and that he would blow up his office” because he “was challenging the results of the [2020] election.”
Here again, MacFarlane left facts behind. Though the Department of Justice never did say who, the only member of the Maryland delegation who objected was Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD).
MacFarlane attributed the rise in threats to — what else — January 6 as part of a doubling in investigations of threats by Capitol Police over the last five years.
Going to Scalise, MacFarlane again minimized the motive and who was attacked (with the exception of giving Scalise a Republican tag) (click “expand”):
CONGRESSMAN STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Lucky to be alive. I know God definitely took care of me that day.
MACFARLANE: Some threats have already resulted in violence. A gunman opened fire and severely wounded Republican House whip Steve Scalise at a baseball practice in Virginia in 2017 before Capitol Police returned fire and killed the shooter. Scalise, who has been undergoing physical therapy for years says there should be a zero tolerance policy and rigorous prosecution for threats including the verbal ones.
SCALISE: Clearly, people — and there’s got to be mental illness involved in it, the rage that some people might get where they think it’s okay to take a political difference and want to then go and commit violence based on it.
MacFarlane’s omission-laden reporting continued with this esoteric and preposterous summation of what happened last week: “[J]ust last week, a man was arrested for threatening to kill a Supreme Court Justice. The man was found near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home with a gun and a knife and is charged with attempted murder.”
MacFarlane ended with Capitol Police’s goal of hiring hundreds more officers, but not before touting the SPLC as a group concerned that “the increasingly overheated and inflammatory rhetoric of politicians is fueling a combustible toxic environment.”
SPLC head Margaret Huang responded to MacFarlane’s softball about whether “elected officials could do more to denounce” the rise in “unacceptable behavior” and emphasize “there are consequences for embracing this kind of hate speech and extremist ideology.”
It should be simple to both condemn acts of political violence as well as fully identify the prepetrator(s). But when it’s conservatives facing threats and/or violence, the liberal media sure seem to be less interested in the full picture.
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To see the relevant CBS transcript from June 14, click “expand.”
CBS Mornings
June 14, 2022
7:32 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Keeping Congress Safe; Violent Threats Against Congress More Than Doubled in Past 5 Years]
NATE BURLESON: Speaking of being held accountable to your actions, now to an urgent story about the rising threat of political violence. Just yesterday, we heard testimony on Capitol Hill from an official who received death threats against his children from angry Trump’s supporters. Today also marks five years since a gunman opened fire on Members of Congress and staff on a baseball field. Republican Congressman Steve Scalise was seriously wounded. CBS News has learned Capitol Hill police investigated nearly 10,000 threats in just the past year. Scott MacFarlane shows us how America’s increasingly toxic politics are also becoming more dangerous.
SCOTT MACFARLANE: A college graduate with a public health degree, Sid Mathur of Maryland had no political or criminal history until he broke the law by committing a felony with his cell phone.
SID MATHUR: At that moment, I let my anger get the best of me.
MACFARLANE: Weeks after the 2020 election, Mathur called his Congressman and left a voicemail saying he knew where the Congressman and his family lived and that he would blow up his office. Prosecutors deemed it a death threat that warranted swift and serious consequences. Mathur says he was angry his Congressman was challenging the results of the election.
MACFARLANE: When you say your intention was to voice your opinion, you went a lot farther than that.
SID MATHUR: I did. I did. In fact, like when I -- when I picked up the phone and I was so infuriated at that time, it was an unfortunate thing that I did and I’m very sorry.
MACFARLANE: Mathur is now serving a sentence of home detention after pleading guilty to a Federal criminal charge of communicating a threat. This man with zero history of political activism or protest is part of a fast growing wave of threats under investigation by Federal authorities that has only increased since the January 6th attack on the Capitol. U.S. Capitol police report a spike in threats against Members of Congress. In 2021, investigations of threats were up 11 percent from the previous year when there were nearly 9,600 of them. That’s more than double the number from five years ago.
CONGRESSMAN STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Lucky to be alive. I know God definitely took care of me that day.
MACFARLANE: Some threats have already resulted in violence. A gunman opened fire and severely wounded Republican House whip Steve Scalise at a baseball practice in Virginia in 2017 before Capitol Police returned fire and killed the shooter. Scalise, who has been undergoing physical therapy for years says there should be a zero tolerance policy and rigorous prosecution for threats including the verbal ones.
SCALISE: Clearly, people — and there’s got to be mental illness involved in it, the rage that some people might get where they think it’s okay to take a political difference and want to then go and commit violence based on it.
MACFARLANE: And just last week, a man was arrested for threatening to kill a Supreme Court Justice. The man was found near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home with a gun and a knife and is charged with attempted murder.
ATTORNEY GENERAL MERRICK GARLAND: Threats of violence and actual violence against the Justices of course, strike at the heart of our democracy.
MAN: Put your mask on.
MACFARLANE: The Southern Poverty Law Center and advocacy organizations as the increasingly overheated and inflammatory rhetoric of politicians is fueling a combustible toxic environment.
SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The gentleman is not in order.
MACFARLANE: Do you believe elected officials could do more to denounce this?
SPLC PRESIDENT/CEO MARGARET HUANG: Yes. There is no question that hearing from elected officials that this is unacceptable behavior, that there are consequences for embracing this kind of hate speech and extremist ideology. That makes a difference, just as the failure to do that makes a difference.
MACFARLANE: Though it is not only politicians who bear responsibility, according to Sid Mathur who knows people must resist going too far like he did.
MATHUR: I still think about it every day like when I wake up or when I’m going to sleep, it stays — it’s going to stay with me forever basically, just for that one mistake for that one night.
MACFARLANE: The U.S. House Sergeant at Arms has recommended more security cameras and more security upgrades in the hometown offices of Members of Congress when they’re not here at the Capitol, and Capitol Police tell CBS News to try to hire and deploy 280 more officers by the end of this summer — Gayle.
GAYLE KING: Very scary times. Scott, thank you very much.
