CNN’s Wolf Blitzer pleaded Tuesday with Donald Trump’s campaign manager for her to ask the GOP nominee to dial back his harassment against the media, saying it endangers reporters.
Kellyanne Conway responded by saying that part of the responsibility lies with reporters who tweet “negative” against Trump.
Throughout his campaign, Trump has lashed out at the media during his rallies, calling reporters a variety of insults including “dishonest,” “sick,” and “corrupt.”
“Are you comfortable with the attacks he’s launched against the news media? (Trump calls the media) ‘low lives’ and uses all sorts of ugly words, are you comfortable with that?” Blitzer asked Conway.
The CNN anchor continued: “You know what worries me — and I’m not objective on this because I’m on the Steering Committee on the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and I really believe in a free press and I’m sure you do as well — but the working journalists, the embeds who are traveling with them all the time, they go to all these rallies, they’re in this pen, he points to them, he sort of eggs the crowd on to go after them. They’re a lot of young journalists, they’re scared sometimes.”
“I respect them all,” Conway began to answer before Blitzer cut her off.
“He shouldn’t be doing that. I mean, can you talk to him? And say to him, ‘Mr. Trump, we only have a few days left, these are hardworking young journalists, they deserve to have some security,’ if you will, because some of those Trump supporters out there, they get pretty nasty with what they’re screaming at these young people,” Blitzer said.
“Yes, I will tell (Trump) that,” Conway told Blitzer, adding, “He’s probably watching right now.”
Conway said part of the reason Trump goes after the reporters is their social media accounts.
“Their Twitter feed is, for some of them, is almost — we’ve done an analysis — 85 to 95% negative towards Donald Trump. You didn’t hear anything good to say? There’s nothing good to report that day that you would actually put on your Twitter feed? So I think the responsibility has to go both ways. But you’re right, I am open-press, I believe in a free press, I believe in an honest press,” Conway explained.
She also claimed the only violence she saw was from protesters who were being paid by Democratic operatives to incite violence at Trump rallies. Last week, an edited, secretly recorded video released by a conservative activist suggested Democratic operatives hired people to attend Trump’s campaign rallies and incite violence.
Blitzer ended with his final point, “I hope in these final days he doesn’t continue to point at them as he does at these rallies (and say), ‘Look at them, they’re disgusting,’ because God forbid, there could be an ugly incident and it worries me every time I hear that.”
