CNN’s Don Lemon Defends Toobin After Steve Cortes’ Comments: ‘Gross Mischaracterization’

CNN anchor Don Lemon came to the defense of colleague Jeffrey Toobin after network commentator Steve Cortes took a shot at Toobin earlier tonight.

Toobin this morning blasted President Donald Trump for his comments on the “success” of the federal government’s Puerto Rico response when 2975 people were killed. He asked, “Isn’t the story that these people who died – apparently thousands of them in Puerto Rico, 3,000 as you point out – they’re not white people, and they don’t count to Donald Trump as much as the deaths of white people. You hate to say that about someone, but look at his record. Isn’t that indicative of who he is and what he stands for?”

Cortes tonight said to Chris Cuomo Toobin’s comments were “ridiculous” and argued Trump wasn’t “ignoring people of color” by citing recovery efforts in Houston.

Lemon spoke to Cuomo towards the end of the latter’s show tonight and said this:

“It was shocking to me when I heard what Steve Cortes said about my colleague Jeffrey Toobin. A gross mischaracterization of what he said, so I went back to look at what he said. He did not say that the President would not sent people, did not send people in to rescue people because they were not white. What he said is if 3000 white people had died in Florida or Texas, he would not be saying––would we be saying it was a success? Would he be saying it was a success? Those are two different things, and I think that was a gross mischaracterization that someone who works here at CNN––Jeffrey Toobin is my colleague, I just felt the need to defend him and to set the record straight.”

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]