Trump Fan Attacks CNN When Shown Trump’s Stunning Boast ‘We Took The Freedom of Speech Away’

Trump defender and Federalist reporter Brianna Lyman lashed out at CNN when anchor Abby Phillip showed her a clip of President Donald Trump announcing “We took the freedom of speech away” — a clip Lyman admitted she hadn’t seen.

Trump made the stunning declaration at a White House event devoted to his campaign against “Antifa”:

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We took the freedom of speech away because that’s been through the courts and the court said you have freedom of speech but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds, they’ve never seen anything like it on both sides and you end up with riots.

So we’re going on that basis. We’re looking at it from not — from the freedom of speech, which I always felt strongly about, but never passed the courts. This is what they do is they incite. When you burn an American flag, you incite tremendous violence.

On Wednesday’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip hosted a panel comprised of Lyman, Cornel West, Phil Williams, and Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY).

The anchor was stunned when Lyman attacked CNN after seeing the clip for the first time, and tried to characterize Trump’s statement as a joke:

ABBY PHILLIP: So Brianna, I mean, conservatives want liberals to stop calling Trump, you know, authoritarian, fascist, whatever it is. But he’s also doing things like saying he’s getting rid of the First Amendment. He is calling for the jailing of his political opponents, including a governor and a mayor. They’re not allowed to categorize that or, you know, describe that in a way that Trump doesn’t like?

BRIANNA LYMAN: Well, I don’t think that’s an accurate representation of what’s happening. I’ll start with the flag burning thing. Donald Trump’s executive order did not make it illegal for flag burning. I got to be honest, I didn’t see that clip. But given that last week, CNN told me children were being zip tied and that didn’t turn out to be true. I don’t want to comment on if that’s true or not. But Americans are —

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: You don’t want to comment if the clip is true?

LYMAN: On what the context of the clip is.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: I mean, he was talking about the flag burning issue.

(CROSSTALK)

LYMAN: On the flag-burning issue — on the flag burning issue —

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: And I agree with you, the flag burning EO is nonsense.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: But in his mind, he thinks that it outlaws flag burning and it’s —

(CROSSTALK)

LYMAN: I don’t — don’t think he thinks that. I think it’s just a tongue-in-cheek comment and I think Americans are extremely disheartened. We are coming up on the 250th anniversary of the greatest country ever created, and to see people burning the American flag is not good for the patriotic spirit.

Watch above via CNN NewsNight.