CBS News, fully devolved into hyperpartisanship with just two weeks to go before the presidential election, repackaged a garbage article from The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg for the purpose of harming former President Donald Trump’s gains with the Hispanic community.
Watch as anchor Norah O’Donnell and correspondent Nikole Killion kick off the CBS Evening News with this report:
NORAH O’DONNELL: Two weeks from Election Day, as the final battleground sprint is underway. Every hour matters for these candidates as they try to reach as many voters as possible in the key states that will decide this election. For Donald Trump, that meant speaking at a roundtable in Florida at his golf club courting the Latino vote. After that campaign stop, a new report that Trump, while president, used the F word to describe a murdered Mexican-American soldier. That story is that Trump scoffed at the price of a funeral he offered to pay for Private Vanessa Guillen, something Trump’s team tonight denies. We have both campaigns covered tonight. We’re going to start with CBS’s Nikole Killion. She is on the trail with Donald Trump in Florida. Good evening, Nikole.
NIKOLE KILLION: Good evening to you, Norah. The Trump campaign is pushing back heavily against this new report that claims that he disparaged a Mexican-American soldier while he was president. This all comes just as he tries to make inroads with Latino voters.
This item is ham-handed to the point of transparency.
The report betrays CBS’s ignorance about the makeup of, and issues that are a priority to, the Hispanic community. Exhibit A: a chyron screaming ”Trump courts Latino voters despite anti-immigrant rhetoric” that was on throughout the report.
Poll after poll shows that immigration is not a dispositive issue. Hispanics are concerned about the cost of living and high food prices, just like anyone else. But CBS reductively suggests that immigration is the apex issue.
Towards the end of the report, Killion introduces the unsourced Atlantic item, which is intended to drive an additional wedge between Trump and the Hispanic community. Killion closes out her report by partially citing the sister of the Ft. Hood soldier.
KILLION: The sister of Vanessa Guillen said her sister's death is being exploited for politics.
It’s fascinating to see what gets left out, isn’t it?
Wow.
— Mayra Guillen (@mguilen_) October 22, 2024
I don’t appreciate how you are exploiting my sister’s death for politics- hurtful & disrespectful to the important changes she made for service members. President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family & Vanessa. In fact, I voted for President Trump today. https://t.co/o8cDrKOKBV
It’s not enough to reduce an entire population cohort to immigration. The hyperpartisan CBS News misrepresented a Gold Star family, for purposes of affecting the political balance of power.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on the CBS Evening News on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024:
NORAH O’DONNELL: Two weeks from Election Day, as the final battleground sprint is underway. Every hour matters for these candidates as they try to reach as many voters as possible in the key states that will decide this election. For Donald Trump, that meant speaking at a roundtable in Florida at his golf club courting the Latino vote. After that campaign stop, a new report that Trump, while president, used the F word to describe a murdered Mexican-American soldier. That story is that Trump scoffed at the price of a funeral he offered to pay for Private Vanessa Guillen, something Trump’s team tonight denies. We have both campaigns covered tonight. We’re going to start with CBS’s Nikole Killion. She is on the trail with Donald Trump in Florida. Good evening, Nikole.
NIKOLE KILLION: Good evening to you, Norah. The Trump campaign is pushing back heavily against this new report that claims that he disparaged a Mexican-American soldier while he was president. This all comes just as he tries to make inroads with Latino voters.
PASTOR, IN PRAYER: We believe, Lord, that you are the answer for all the problems.
KILLION: Today, an all-hands effort to deliver the Latino vote, as faith leaders pray for former President Donald Trump.
PASTOR: In Jesus’ name, Amen.
KILLION: The former president kept his focus on immigration, and slammed the conditions at the border.
DONALD TRUMP: There's something about that border that’s just really evil. The drugs, the human trafficking.
KILLION: But in front of the Hispanic audience at his Doral golf club, Trump did not mention his plan for a mass deportation of 11 million people, although he did continue to double down on anti-immigrant rhetoric.
TRUMP: These are ruthless, horrible people.
KILLION: The former president is looking to close the gap with Vice President Kamala Harris among Latino voters nationwide. Republican Congresswoman Maria Salazar, the daughter of Cuban exiles, argued voters should look past the harsh language.
KILLION: But do you agree with the rhetoric that the former president uses?
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR: I think that he is a very picturesque person-- these people are separating the personality from the policies. What's good for my pocket? What's good for my values? That's why we are going with Trump.
KILLION: After that event, The Atlantic magazine published these alleged remarks from Trump in the Oval Office four years ago, discussing the cost of the funeral of Vanessa Guillen, a 20-year-old Army private and daughter of Mexican immigrants who was killed by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood. Trump had offered to pay for the funeral. "It doesn't cost $6,000 to bury an effing Mexican”, it quotes Trump as saying, “don't pay for it." The sister of Vanessa Guillen said her sister's death is being exploited for politics, while several of the former president's White House aides said the Atlantic report is absolutely false. Norah?
O’DONNELL: Nikole Killion in Florida for us tonight, thank you, Nikole.
