A lawyer for WarnerMedia — CNN’s parent company — is sending a cease-and-desist letter to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign over an advertisement that they say is “false, misleading and deceptive.”
Rick McMurtry, associate general counsel for WarnerMedia, is centering the network’s complaint on a new Trump campaign ad titled, “American Comeback,” which was introduced on Sunday.
The campaign reportedly has a mid-seven-figure budget to have the ad circulated on television networks and broadcast channels. However, CNN is trying to have the ad pulled as soon as possible.
The letter sent to Trump’s campaign manager, Tim Murtaugh, alleges that “the advertisement purposely and deceptively edits the clip to imply that Mr. Blitzer and Dr. Gupta were crediting the President’s travel ban policy issued in January for saving millions of American lives, when in fact Mr. Blitzer and Dr. Gupta were discussing recently implemented social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders issued by state and local governments.”
See the campaign ad below:
McMurtry is highlighting the March 30 discussion between Wolf Blitzer and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The network claims that the edited clip is structured to convey a misleading message as if Blitzer and Gupta were praising Trump and crediting the travel ban for saving millions of lives.
During Blitzer’s original discussion with Gupta, he had asked, “Well, is it accurate that if these steps had not been put in place, the stay at home orders, the social distancing orders, as the President said yesterday, it could have been 2 million people down here in the United States?”
However, the edited clip omits the part about stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines.
“Is it accurate that if these steps had not been put in place,” Blitzer was edited to say before the clip skips to “it could’ve been 2 million people dead here in the United States?”
To which, Gupta is edited down to simply saying, “Yes.” CNN is arguing that the edits paint a picture of a completely different conversation. Because of the clip, CNN is demanding that the Trump campaign refrain from using the clip in any context.
McMurtry wrote, “CNN hereby demands that you discontinue airing the advertisement with the CNN clip that has been distorted in such a way as to mislead the public.”
