Prominent conservative commentator Candace Owens tweeted Thursday morning that the media were attempting a “public lynching” of fellow black conservative Paris Dennard because he had proven an effective advocate for President Donald Trump.

Last Friday, Dennard debated fellow CNN contributor Philip Mudd, a Trump critic, over the issue of the president’s revocation of former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance. When Dennard correctly pointed out that former officials with security clearance could use it to obtain more lucrative jobs with private government contractors, Mudd lost his temper and told Dennard to “get out.”

Dennard’s performance thrilled Trump supporters and earned praise from the president on Monday.

On Wednesday evening, the Washington Post‘s Aaron Davis published a story revealing that Dennard had been dismissed in 2015 from a previous job at Arizona State University “for making sexually explicit comments and gestures” toward two women. The accusations covered events in 2013 and 2014, and were described in a sealed report — along with Dennard’s denials and defenses.

The Post‘s article makes clear that the primary reason for its “investigation” was to target President Trump and Dennard’s advocacy on his behalf. The headline read: “Trump called this White House defender ‘wonderful.’ He was fired from his previous job for alleged sexual harassment.”

 

Much of the article focused on Dennard’s past defenses of the president: “Dennard was an early and outspoken supporter for Trump during the 2016 campaign. Combined, he has appeared on CNN and NPR over 100 times, often defending Trump on everything from his record of false statements to rolling back race-based admission policies to using a vulgar word to describe Haiti, El Salvador and African nations.”

CNN immediately suspended Dennard.

Dennard, who worked for President George W. Bush as director of outreach to the black community, currently serves on a commission on fellowships for the Trump White House.

Owens, who works for the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, is one of the most prominent black conservative voices today and is credited for brining hip-hop entrepreneur Kanye West into the Trump camp.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.