CNN’s Chris Cuomo Misquotes Himself In Facebook Attack On Breitbart News

CNN’s Chris Cuomo took to Facebook to explain why, when warning a Baltimore protester about the police, he said, “You know how they are.” Although Breitbart News provided a lengthy transcript of Cuomo’s dialogue with the young man, he’s accusing us of taking him out of context.

Cuomo also misquotes himself:

[P]erception matters in sensitive situations like ‪#‎baltimore and truth matters. I did not insult the cops as relayed by a couple of online outlets. Here is the truth: cops since curfew have asked me to warn people not to form chains or do anything after curfew but leave. And that any approaching of officers would be taken as provocation and potential arrest. You just can’t do it. Doesn’t matter if you are trying to help. They will do that job and they won’t take changes with discussing what they do with protestors before doing it.

The young men, while stating good intentions, were doing exactly what cops said not to do.

So I was leveling with them, relating the obvious: If you do what the cops say not to they will take you down. We had already seen exactly that the night before. …

THATS HOW THEY ARE. and that is not an insult.

But Cuomo didn’t say, “That’s how they are.” He said, “You know how they [the police]  are,” after cautioning the young man to be careful. Cuomo did not say, “If you provoke the police or ignore the curfew, the police will have no choice other than to do their job,” or words to that effect. The implication was obvious.

Here’s the transcript courtesy of CNN Commentary:

Reporting for Anderson Cooper on AC360, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo said, “[Protestors are] in the streets. They’re walking toward the cops. You know walking towards the cops in the middle of the street, they’re going to come at you.”

A protester responded, “We’re going home… We’re going home… We’re not going towards them. We’re going home. We’re just keeping peace. […] We’re splitting up.”

“Just be careful, cuz you know how they are–” Cuomo cautioned him.

“Yes, sir,” the protester interrupted.

“–If you seem like you’re being provocative towards them, you know how things can go,” Cuomo finished.

Cuomo also lashed out at CNN Commentary (you can read their response  here):

This is being twisted to paint a picture of media anti cop bias. One outlet even sources a twitter account that is just some guy, making it seem like he is part of some legit CNN-based media watchdog.

Ridiculous.

What’s “ridiculous” is that in his Facebook response Chris Cuomo misquoted himself, did not provide his readers with the actual transcript of what he actually said, and did not link to those of us he attacked.

Facebook is a bubble made up almost exclusively of Cuomo’s fans, those who choose to “friend” the left-wing anchor. Even though he’s preaching to his choir, he is still withholding the full truth. This is propaganda, not journalism.

Breitbart News and CNN Commentary went out of their way to provide the full context of Cuomo’s words. This gave our readers the opportunity to make up their own minds. Cuomo, who indignantly assumes the role of a “real journalist” in his response, not only hides behind Facebook to throw his bombs, he provides his readers with zero context and — this is worth repeating — misquotes himself.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Although he has a long way to go, the Facebook response is at least a move in the right direction for Cuomo. Thursday he responded with name calling and deflection.

 

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC