NewsNation host Chris Cuomo on Monday said he expressed condolences to Donald Trump after the second attempt on his life on Sunday, saying the former president “doesn’t deserve” to face assassination attempts.
Federal and local officials confirmed Sunday the arrest of 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh for allegedly attempting to assassinate Trump the same day. Cuomo, on NewsNation’s “CUOMO,” mentioned that he is a frequent Trump critic, but expressed amazement at how the former president continues campaigning despite the attempts and noted it must be challenging for his family. (RELATED: ‘Scary Times’: Donald Trump Jr Shares Intimate Update After Assassination Attempt)
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“I reached out to Trump. I wanted to just say, ‘Listen, I’m really sorry that this is going on and it’s being dealt with this way.’ Not because I’m in favor of his politics or what he says — I criticize him all the time. That’s my job, and he deserves it. But he doesn’t deserve this,” Cuomo said. “A guy pointing an AK-47 at him while he’s playing golf, and we take solace in the fact that the guy didn’t get any rounds off. That does not work for me.”
“If I had been through what that guy’s been through in the last two months, you would not know where I am. You would never see me on TV again,” he continued. “No way I would do that. I don’t know how he does it. He’s got kids — they’re adults — but he’s got grandkids, he’s got a wife.”
Cuomo on CNN in 2017 accused Trump of “openly defending the hateful white supremacist types” after the violent protests in Charlottesville concerning the removal of a Confederate General Robert E. Lee statue, according to a transcript. He also harshly rebuked Trump’s rhetoric in 2018 on CNN, saying the former president was promoting hatred of illegal immigrants as a political tactic for that year’s upcoming midterm elections, according to another transcript.
“He’s trying to start a mass movement based on fear and loathing of a minority group. Now, he says that’s not true, that he’s just trying to keep us safe and make the system better. But don’t be a sucker. He doesn’t need to demonize migrants to do that,” Cuomo said in 2018. “Those walking across illegally are the smallest part of our illegal entrance. If he really just wanted to make us safe, he would prosecute those in big business that do the mass hiring and he would use his storied deal making skills to get Congress to change the system. He has gotten nowhere despite having both houses of Congress.”
“That’s because what he really wants are votes and popularity with a minority of the country. And he has found a well-worn way to do it. Fear and loathing with a common enemy,” he added. “His methods are vulgar. His objectives are obvious and ugly.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday criticized the media for not sufficiently covering the “danger” she believes Trump poses “to our country and the world.” Despite the Sunday assassination attempt, she did not tamp down her rhetoric, repeatedly characterizing Trump as “dangerous” in the span of a few minutes.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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