President Trump’s reelection campaign defended the CNN crew that was arrested while covering the protests in Minnesota over the death of George Floyd.
The campaign said Omar Jimenez and his crew were “outrageously” arrested Friday morning during a live report on New Day. They were released within two hours.
“Mayor Frey & Gov Walz have completely lost control in Minneapolis in a catastrophic display of failed leadership,” the Trump campaign wrote on Twitter. “The city is on fire & they outrageously arrested a CNN crew. [Trump] called in DOJ to investigate George Floyd’s death. Clear-eyed justice must be served!”
Mayor Frey & Gov Walz have completely lost control in Minneapolis in a catastrophic display of failed leadership.
The city is on fire & they outrageously arrested a CNN crew.@realDonaldTrump called in DOJ to investigate George Floyd’s death.
Clear-eyed justice must be served! https://t.co/QvA6zvYGuu
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) May 29, 2020
The tweet was a rare show of solidarity between the Trump campaign and CNN, which the president often criticizes and labels as “fake news.”
Jimenez detailed the experience shortly after being released.
“For us, it was literally a situation of tell me who you are as far as identification purposes, then they left. They came back and said you’re with CNN, correct? Yes. And then, we explained the two other team members that were with me. Three, including the security that we had hired for this. And then, they left. Came back,” he said.
“Then led us out of the van — we were inside the van handcuffed the whole time. Then, we were sat down. Waited for a little bit more. From there, that was when they eventually came back with our belongings that they had confiscated over the course of this. They … unclipped our handcuffs, and then, that is when we were let out. Again, to answer your question, there was no sort of, sorry, this is a big misunderstanding,” Jimenez added.
Anchor John Berman said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the arrests “totally unacceptable” during a conversation with CNN President Jeff Zucker.
The protests are in response to Floyd, a black man, dying in Minneapolis on Monday after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a white officer’s knee as he repeatedly said he could not breathe. Video of the incident, taken by a bystander, led to community outrage.
With riots escalating Thursday night into Friday morning, Trump accused Mayor Jacob Frey of not doing enough to stop it.
“I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right,” he tweeted, before subsequently adding, “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”
Twitter hid the second tweet under a warning label, claiming it was “glorifying violence.”
