It was quite a moment. The hosts of CNN This Morning, Erica Hill and Phil Mattingly, stunned into shocked silence on the issue of crime on Friday. And the one who caused this was their own colleague, John Miller, Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst for CNN.
It was Phil Mattingly who set up the scene that ultimately led to his silence by bringing up the illegal aliens (which CNN calls "migrants") who attacked New York police officers last week and were subsequently released without bail by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
PHIL MATTINGLY: Well, this morning, an update on the group of migrants arrested for attacking two New York police officers last week. An official telling CNN that four of the seven suspects have left the city on a bus to California, might be planning to flee to Mexico.
Joining us now is CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller. John, what are your sources telling you about how this is playing out?
JOHN MILLER: So, as you know, Phil, they were released without bail, so released on their own recognizance, much to the outrage of the police unions and many of the police officers, since it was a bailable offense, and, obviously, as people who got here a month ago without family, they have no root to the community. But that was the decision that judge didn't hold them on bail. The D.A. didn't ask for bail. So, yesterday, we learned that they went to a Catholic charity that helps migrants. They got four bus tickets under false names and got on a bus headed for Calexico through St. Louis.
Now, normally, we probably wouldn't even be talking about this because the U.S. Marshals and detectives would be waiting for them in St. Louis, but they were released on their own recognizance, which means police have nothing to arrest them on, on the assumption, which they have to operate on, that they'll be back for their March 13th court date.
The chances of that happening when four people get on a bus with false names and head for the city that literally you can cross the street into the Mexican border is probably unlikely. So, that stirred a lot of controversy about the criminal justice reform and the assault on the police officers.
The co-host Erica Hill stepped in to put in a plug for New York Governor Kathy Hochul who somehow suddenly discovered the dangers of illegals flooding across the border ...when it became politically expedient to do so.
ERICA HILL: It's also fascinating what we're hearing from officials specifically. I want to play what Governor Hochul had to say. Take a listen.
KATHY HOCHUL (VIDEO CLIP): Get them all and send them back. You don't touch our police officers. You don't touch anybody.
HILL: I mean, we're hearing a change when it comes to immigration in general from President Biden on down, to hear her talk about that. It is also directly related to the fact that these were police officers. Does that have any impact? Does that change anything?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Erica Hill hopes we believe that Joe Biden and Hochul are now new converts to the concept of enforcing the immigration laws. However, what Miller said next shut both her and Mattingly up completely.
NEW: CNN hosts are literally speechless after they find out that criminal illegal immigrants don't steal in Florida because they go to jail.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 2, 2024
They just figured this out? 🤡
The moment came during an interview with CNN's John Miller who was speaking about the violent immigrant… pic.twitter.com/kMqoReT8Fl
You would almost think, by their utter shock, that this was the first time someone, namely Miller, pointed out the obvious about law enforcement to Hill and Mattingly.
