CNN’s Jake Tapper Hammers Trump Crew With Video Barrage on Violent Jokes About ‘Actual Attacks’

CNN anchor Jake Tapper hit President Donald Trump and his allies with a barrage of clips showing them making jokes about “actual attacks” — as opposed to Jimmy Kimmel’s joke.

Kimmel is taking heat from the right over a joke he made on Thursday, two days before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD). During a parody WHCD roast, Kimmel remarked: “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

The comic said on Monday that the crack “obviously was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together.”

First Lady Melania Trump and President Trump each lashed out at Kimmel with escalating demands for action by ABC. The president wrote, in part, that “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

On Wednesday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, a clearly incensed Tapper observed that “Members of the Trump administration sometimes seem a bit selective in what they consider beyond the pale”:

JAKE TAPPER: Politics now. Today, the Trump aligned Federal Communications Commission is challenging the station licenses of ABC. This is because of the joke that Jimmy Kimmel made on Thursday night, two days before the horrific assassination attempt against President Trump and senior leaders of his administration. And a joke that was made two days after that would be assassin began his trip to Washington, D.C. Here is the joke from Thursday night.

He is pretending he is at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner roasting the crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, “JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE”: And of course, our first lady Melania is here. Look at Melania. So beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Kimmel last night said that this was a joke about the age difference between the president and the first lady, which is considerable, and how the first lady seems in public when they are together. He says that this was not in any way a reference to shots being fired.

In a statement responding to the FCC’s challenge, ABC’s parent company Disney said, quote, “We’re confident our record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels.”

Now, critics say this is a dramatic escalation by the FCC. Station licensees have broad legal protections, but the early renewal orders, well, that’s not normal. And it does not seem a coincidence that this FCC moves comes the day after President Trump and first Lady Melania Trump called on ABC and Disney to fire Jimmy Kimmel yesterday. Last night on his show, Kimmel defended himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMMEL: I also should point out Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I, as are all of us, because under the First Amendment, we have as Americans a right to free speech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Fact check, true. Members of the Trump administration sometimes seem a bit selective in what they consider beyond the pale when it comes to jokes because frankly, we’ve heard plenty of jokes from Trump and his allies about actual attacks that had happened in the past, including that brutal 2022 hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul, which left him severely injured, traumatized by a lunatic with a hammer.

[17:15:31]

RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, maybe Paul Pelosi needs the hammer instead of the metal.

PETE HEGSETH, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: Well, it’s metal.

All right, Rachel, it is —

CAMPOS-DUFFY It’s metal.

TRUMP: We’ll stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi who ruined San Francisco. How’s her husband doing, by the way? Anybody know? And she’s against building a wall at our border, even though she has a wall around her house, which obviously didn’t do a very good job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The apple did not far — fall far from the tree. Donald jump — Donald Trump Jr. Posted on Instagram around that same time, “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.” It’s underwear and a hammer.

Why is that funny? Her husband was hit in the head with a hammer and he’s still injured. Why does anybody think that’s funny?

Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.

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