Speaking at a Wisconsin campaign rally last week, Trump joked that his campaign advisors had cautioned him about describing himself as a protector of women. Retelling the story, he told the audience he replied he was “going to do it whether the women like it or not.”
Citing an example, Trump went on to say he was going to protect women “from migrants coming in,” referring to tragic incidents in which women have been attacked and killed by illegal aliens allowed to remain in the U.S. during the Biden-Harris administration.
When a clip of Trump’s comments played on CNN, however, anchor John Berman played only a portion of it, the "like it or not" portion. He then challenged Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republican lawmaker, to defend what Trump had said.
"John, that is grossly inaccurate what you just played," Donalds replied. "He was talking about the tragedy at our southern border that led to the death of Jocelyn Nungaray."
Two Venezuelan nationals, who crossed into the U.S. earlier this year, have been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting and strangling Nungaray, who was 12, Fox News reported.
Not only did Donalds know about Nungaray’s death, he knew the context of Trump’s quote and pushed back on CNN’s ambush of the congressman over the edited clip.
That left Berman to awkwardly insist CNN was being truthful and accurate. “No, no, no, no, no,” the CNN anchor replied. “You have the exact right context here, Congressman."
After Donalds pointed out Trump was talking about protecting women from “violent illegal alien criminals,” Berman shifted the question to demand if Trump’s language was appropriate.
"John, you need to stop,” the GOP congressman finally said.
A day later, CNN anchor Jake Tapper played a clip of Harris citing Trump’s "like it or not" comment at her campaign rally in Arizona. Speaking to her supporters, the vice president tied Trump’s comments to abortion.
“He does not believe women should have the agency and authority to make decisions about their own bodies,” Harris told the crowd.
To his credit, after playing Harris’ comments, Tapper reminded a political panel – and the CNN audience – that Trump was talking about protecting women.
“Certainly you can take issue with the language,” Tapper told the panel, “but he wasn‘t saying he was just going to do whatever he wanted, regardless.”
Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist, shrugged off Tapper’s fact-check and suggested Trump sounded “misogynistic” in his comment.
Despite the fact it was Harris who was being dishonest, Finney turned the discussion back to Trump and the remaining days of the campaign. "He’s going to say something horrible, ridiculous—"
"So just quote it accurately,” Tapper interrupted.
"That's not my point," Finney continued.
