CNN Anchor Throws Down With House Republican Over Trump Calling the Left ‘Scum’

CNN anchor Kate Bolduan and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) sparred on air Monday after Bolduan asked the Tennessee Republican to weigh in on President Donald Trump calling the left “scum” in the wake of the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Bolduan showed the clip of Trump speaking on Sunday to begin the interview.

“The problem is on the left. It’s not on the right, like some people like to say on the right. The problem we have is on the left, and when you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place—that’s the left, that’s not the right,” said Trump.

“That is not accurate. I mean, there’s a long list of recent political violence against Democrats. The point being is that there is more and more political violence across the political spectrum, targeting both the right and the left. But what do you do with this if the president does not want to take the lead in trying to help?” Bolduan then asked her guest.

“Ma’am, it’s all over. It’s not just the president. The guy was shot at—he was shot at once and he was almost assassinated twice. Look back at my friend Steve Scalise when he was shot, and the guy had what was called a Republican hunting list, and it took us five years, ma’am. Five years to get that changed by the FBI,” Burchett replied.

“No, congressman, I’m aware of that list. I have a list altogether of the horrific acts of political violence, but again, it goes across the political spectrum,” Bolduan pushed back, adding:

Looking forward, moving forward, if this could be a turning point, I’ve seen from many saying that it should be expected to start from the leaders. It should be expected from a president of the United States to move forward and bring that temperature down. If he is not going to, what do you do with it? What do you do about it?

“Well, what do you all do with it? You keep putting it out. If you all truly wanted this to change in the media, at CNN and other places, your editorial board would say, ‘We’re not going to—we are not going to put this stuff out,’ but yet you continue to put it out and that continues to stir the base. Ma’am, we had a hearing last week on UFOs—” Burchett replied as Bolduan cut in:

No, no, no. I’m creating a conversation and I take pride in the fact that we do bring the temperature down on this program, and I definitely make redoubling efforts to do that now by playing the words of the president in order to bring about conversation with an elected member of Congress. That’s not trying to stir—that’s trying to have conversation and that’s trying to ask you what you thought about it, rather than have you come back and attack me about it.

“Well, ma’am, I’m not attacking you. I’m just letting you know that you all need to look within at CNN if you want to continue down this path, because clearly your ratings show that, and the conservative movement is showing that they’re not watching you because of that,” Burchett hit back, adding:

If you all truly had some objective reporting instead of constantly attacking conservatives and Republicans, then there would be a change, I think. But there’s not going to be a change. You all don’t want to change down deep. Maybe you do, ma’am, but I dare say that the vast majority of your colleagues do not.

They do not come from the conservative spectrum. They see this as just a Republican-type situation, and it is absolutely not. You’re seeing as much or more on the left than you are from the right, and this is just down that same road once again, and it proves my point that this will never change.

“Yeah, but making broad brush statements about any group of people or vast generalizations when you are not involved in any internal discussions within this network or any other network is also not moving the ball forward in a positive way. Congressman, thank you for your time,” Bolduan concluded.

Watch the clip above via CNN.