ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Ana Navarro, a CNN contributor, called President Trump’s tweet Sunday morning showing him body-slamming and punching a person meant to represent the cable news network “an incitement to violence.”
The president “is going to get somebody killed in the media. Maybe that will stop him,” Navarro said on an ABC News’ “This Week” roundtable. The CNN contributor also responded to Trump homeland security adviser Tom Bossert’s defense of the president’s tweet during his interview on “This Week” Sunday.
“I am disappointed beyond belief by the answer that the homeland security adviser just gave,” Navarro said. “What a wuss. What a wuss. You could see that he is ceding his principles. You are the homeland security adviser and you can’t stand here and say the difference between right and wrong.”
Bossert touted the president’s use of social media as a way to reach people by bypassing conventional media outlets.
When asked by “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz whether the tweet represents “the kind of communication you want,” noting that it “seems like a threat,” Bossert responded by saying, “I think that no one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they don’t. I do think that [Trump is] beaten up in a way on cable platforms that he has a right to respond to.”
Bossert, who saw the tweet for the first time live on “This Week,” told Raddatz, “There’s a lot of cable new shows that reach directly into hundreds of thousands of viewers and they’re really not all very fair to the president. So I’m pretty proud of the president for developing a Twitter and a social media platform where he can talk directly to the American people.”
The president’s tweet Sunday included a GIF of a 2007 WWE performance where Trump body-slammed and repeatedly punched WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. The GIF that Trump tweeted super-imposed the CNN logo on McMahon’s head.
Navarro was also critical of the president’s inner circle, saying he’s “is surrounded by enablers that do nothing but shake their heads and nod their heads in agreement on everything that he says. They have got to stop. They have got to stand for democracy, for freedom of the press, this is just going way too far. The president of the United States is inciting violence against the free press and, America, we cannot stand for it.”
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