CNN’s Dana Bash Presses Top Dem On Anti-Trump ‘Heat Rhetoric’: ‘Do You Think Twice?’

CNN anchor Dana Bash spoke to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) on Sunday following an armed man storming the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner attended by President Donald Trump the previous night. The gunman was quickly apprehended and has since been revealed to have used “anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric” on social media, according to CBS News’ Jennifer Jacobs.

“Obviously, there are lots of different aspects to this. One is a question of the gun, and Todd Blanche told me that they believe that the alleged shooter purchased the guns legally within the last year. So there’s that, and then there’s the political rhetoric that we have seen just become kind of off the rails, and how that has perhaps gone hand-in-hand with the political violence that we have seen spike,” Bash began.

Raskin replied, “Well, that’s why I was so happy that President Trump went to that, because he had called the press the enemy of the people. There have been so many attacks on reporters. You know, there have been lawsuits brought against media entities, and so there’s been this terrible assault on the First Amendment and freedom of press and speech. So I thought last night would be a wonderful opportunity to try to reclaim the basic values of the country.”

“Yeah, and you have, as many of your fellow Democrats have, used some heated rhetoric against the president. And do you think twice about that when something like this happens?” Bash pressed.

Raskin pushed back, asking, “What rhetoric do you have in mind?”

“Well, just talking about the fact that he, you know, is terrible for this country and so on and so forth. I understand that that’s your democratic right, but overall–” Bash replied as Raskin answered:

I have no personal problem with Donald Trump at all. I mean, I talk about the policies of this administration, the authoritarianism, like we saw on display in Minneapolis, where two of our citizens were gunned down in the streets simply for exercising their First Amendment rights — Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and others who, you know, died in custody. I’m talking about policies. I don’t personalize it. And I certainly have never called the press the enemy of the people. I think the press are the people’s best friend, and that’s why it’s written right there into the First Amendment. We need the press to be a vigilant watchdog against every level of government — federal, state, local, all of it.

“You’re not going to get an argument from me on that,” Bash replied.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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