Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh charged Wednesday that CNN is uninterested in covering an apparent history of public comments against President Trump by the man who shot up a recreational congressional Republican baseball practice.
On his radio show Wednesday, hours after the shooting occured, Limbaugh said he had analyzed CNN’s programming and that it appeared “low-key” in its coverage of the shooter, who was reportedly a fan of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, and a harsh critic of Trump’s.
“CNN is spending an obviously noticeable lack of time explaining who the shooter is,” Limbaugh said. “In other words, CNN is not very interested in who this guy is. They will show his driver’s license and picture occasionally but any history of the guy’s deep devotion to various media celebrities, various media broadcasts, publications, his tweet history and all of that we’ve shared with you, CNN is not getting. CNN viewers are actually being given a high dose of the Republicans and Democrats coming together on the House floor today after the event. Do you find that somewhat curious?”
Limbaugh suggested if the gunman had shot up Democrats and had been a vocal conservative, CNN would have played up his politics more.
If “everything happened the opposite of the way it did,” Limbaugh said, “the only thing you’d be seeing on CNN is a never-ending profile of the shooter as negative and penetrating as they could make it.”
CNN did at least mention the shooter’s history at various points in its coverage Wednesday. National correspondent John King noted around noon that the shooter, identified by authorities as 66-year-old man James T. Hodgkinson of Illinois, had “posted anti-Trump comments on social media.”
Anchor Wolf Blitzer shortly before the 2 p.m. hour referred to Hodgkinson’s social media postings as “very anti-Trump.”
Hodgkinson reportedly arrived at the GOP baseball practice Wednesday morning in Alexandria, Va., just outside of Washington and opened fire on the attendees, wounding several, including Rep. Steve Scalise.
