President Trump expressed surprise and agreement with a tweet comparing him to the wrongly accused suspect in the bombing at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
“This is Richard Jewell. Listen to him,” tweeted an account promoting heavily pro-Trump messages. “President Trump could read the same statement.”
The accompanying clip showed Jewell testifying before Congress in 1997 about how he was, in his estimation, railroaded by law enforcement and the media.
“Wow!” Trump reacted.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 16, 2019
Jewell is the subject of a new movie directed by filmmaker and noted conservative Clint Eastwood. Jewell, a security guard, was accused by the FBI and many media outlets of planting the bomb that exploded in Atlanta’s Centennial Park, injuring more than 100 people. An FBI investigation later exonerated Jewell.
Eastwood’s movie is seen as a harsh criticism of the national news media and American bureaucratic institutions.
Trump has been openly hostile toward media since being elected, calling journalists who criticize him “slimeballs” and blasting stories that cast him or his administration in a negative light as “fake news.”
