White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and other White House staffers slammed CNN and MSNOW on Monday for not airing an event honoring families who lost loved ones in crimes committed by illegal immigrants.
President Donald Trump declared Feb. 23 “Angel Families Day” during an event hosted Monday, which marked the second anniversary of the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, by an illegal immigrant who was released into the country during the Biden administration. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung opened the criticism with a post on X at 10:42 a.m. by noting the event wasn’t covered by those networks.
“Sickening and horrific that CNN and MSNOW are outright refusing to broadcast this powerful and moving event,” Cheung posted, after quoting a post with a video clip of Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, speaking. “It’s like they don’t care about victims and their families.”
“President Trump is currently hosting a truly tear jerking event, signing a proclamation honoring Angel Families. And CNN and MSNow(?) aren’t covering it,” Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr posted two minutes later. “Sick. Disgusting. Mask is off.”
Among those who spoke at the event was a police officer who related how he arrested Riley’s killer in New York City for endangering the welfare of a child, only to see him on the news months later in connection with the nursing student’s murder.
“@CNN is a total disgrace. President Trump hosted a powerful event honoring Angel Families who lost loved ones at the hands of illegal alien criminals and deadly drugs – but CNN refused to cover EVEN one second of it,” Leavitt posted at 11:13 a.m. Monday. “That’s because CNN doesn’t care about the victims of illegal alien crime. They pretend to be a news organization, but they refuse to cover anything that doesn’t fit the Left’s narrative. This is why CNN is failing and losing all of their viewership.”
After NBC News Senior White House Correspondent Garrett Haake complained about the criticism of CNN, Leavitt fired back at 11:53 a.m.
“The President was attacking the media because networks like yours refuse to cover the stories of Angel Families,” Leavitt posted.
Leavitt continued to criticize CNN in further posts, including one featuring a clip where Jody Jones, whose brother was murdered by an illegal immigrant, tore into congressional Democrats for opposing deportation efforts.
“@CNN will never show this incredible man’s honest words because he completely debunks their fake narrative that ‘Trump is bad and racist,’” Leavitt posted at 12:14 p.m.
“@CNN spends much of their time attacking the Trump Administration’s strict immigration policies, but they will never air stories like this, which are the reason our strict enforcement policies are happening in the first place,” Leavitt posted at 12:16 p.m., which included remarks by the former NYPD officer.
A spokesperson for CNN told the Daily Caller News Foundation the network was focusing coverage on the “bomb cyclone” striking the northeastern United States. MSNOW did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
“At the time of the White House event, CNN was covering the breaking news around the historic blizzard impacting millions of Americans,” the CNN spokesperson said.
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