A man named “Don” called into C-SPAN and threatened to shoot CNN’s Brian Stelter and Don Lemon if he saw them.
“Brian Stelter and Don Lemon called all Trump supporters racist, they don’t even know us,” the man from Pennsylvania said in a call Friday “They started the war. If I see them, I’m going to shoot them.”
After making the comment, the man who identified himself as Don immediately said “bye” and hung up the phone.
Stelter shared the audio of the phone call on his show Sunday morning and claimed that he and Lemon had never called Trump-supporters racist.
However, the CNN host did say that on Thursday night Fox News’ Sean Hannity played a two-year-old clip of Stelter questioning if racial anxiety could be the cause of Trump’s success in politics.
“I don’t know if the C-SPAN caller watched Hannity,” Stelter said, making it clear that he was not blaming anyone for the man’s comments. “I’m not blaming Hannity. I just thought the timing was odd.”
Stelter also noted that President Trump’s frequent attacks on the media could contribute to the influx of threats reporters and media outlets are receiving.
Trump often calls mainstream media outlets “fake news” and insists that their coverage of him and his administration uses fabricated stories and made-up sources.
Trump called the “fake news” media the “enemy of the people” in a tweet on Sunday.
[Also read: Roy Blunt insists Republican Party isn’t ‘anti-black’ in face of Trump insults]
The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
