Former Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli called out CNN’s Kasie Hunt over airing a deceptively edited clip of remarks by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to falsely portray him as insulting Trump supporters.
In an interview with Florida Standard Editor-in-Chief Will Witt, DeSantis was making his point about Trump loyalists deriding conservative Republicans like himself as RINOs if they aren’t “kissing his rear-end” when he referred to such politicians as “listless vessels.”
Team Trump and the lying media immediately seized on the remark which was taken out of context to present the misleading picture that the GOP presidential candidate was trashing the MAGA base with a Hillary Clinton “basket of deplorables” put down in a brazenly cynical effort to poison the former president’s supporters against DeSantis.
Cuccinelli, who founded the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down appeared on Sunday’s edition of “State of the Union” where he yanked the rug out from under the dishonest Hunt while live on the air.
(Video: CNN)
“There was a pretty interesting moment in a recent interview where Governor DeSantis talked about Trump supporters. He used the word, words, listless vessels,” Hunt told viewers, laying the groundwork for the doctored clip.
“But he wasn’t talking about Trump supporters,” Cuccinelli corrected her.
“Hold on, hold on,” Hunt said.
“I’m going to play it for everybody and then you can go ahead,” she added as the video was played, cutting out a large chunk of what DeSantis said so as to put his remarks in a context that fit the concocted narrative.
“Everybody just saw there that there was a cut,” Cuccinelli said.
“You cut from the beginning of that quote to the listless vessels. You just did what the problem is,” he added, advising viewers to go and read the transcript of DeSantis’ interview to see the proper context.
“Okay, fine. So you summarize for us,” Hunt said after being caught red-handed in manipulating the clip. “What was it that he was trying to say?”
Cuccinelli responded that DeSantis was making an excellent point about the GOP race being about America and not just one person before Hunt asked, “How do we get from there to listless vessels?”
“Well, the rest of an entire paragraph…” he answered.
“There’s a pretty big gap in your cut. So he’s talking about some of the folks in D.C. who’ve endorsed Trump. He’s talking about the more general environment, and referring to all of us, collectively we can’t just sit back and take all of this, be listless vessels, we have to move ahead with a different vision,” he explained, again urging viewers to read the transcript.
Twitter/X users observed that Hunt wasn’t expecting to be confronted in such a manner over the editing of the DeSantis clip.
Her expression after the edited clip runs https://t.co/90OIJSCRW2 pic.twitter.com/E7L1JbQeO8
— Larry O’Connor (@LarryOConnor) August 20, 2023
This is why few people actually trust legacy media. Many are simply cheerleaders. They have a bully pulpit. CNN might be the exception. No one watches
— Michael Johnson (@michaelj7195) August 20, 2023
I’m so glad I saw this. I was fooled into believing he insulted Trump voters. What a scam. Don’t fall for it folks! Be fair!
— jenny (@JennyBells20) August 20, 2023
… And this is why @realDonaldTrump doesn’t want anything to do with a debate set up by, broadcast by, and totally run by the Fake News Media. I do not blame him one bit. #FakeNews
— MJ Shea (@MikeJShea1964) August 20, 2023
The Trump supporters should be just as angry about this as anyone, as this is what the press has been doing to him since the beginning!
We all spent years explaining and reexplaining misquotes credited to Pres Trump— little brown dog (@Dualchgwp) August 20, 2023
CNN: Credibility Negative Network
— MattBan (@1stFreeMatt) August 20, 2023
“The dishonest media refuses to report the facts—Donald Trump and some congressional endorsers are ‘listless vessels.’ Why? Because Trump and DC insiders feel he is entitled to your vote. @RonDeSantis believes your trust should be earned and has the vision, plan, and record to beat Joe Biden and reverse the decline of our country,” DeSantis press secretary Bryan Griffin said in a statement. “That’s why Ron DeSantis will be showing up on Wednesday night to debate, and Donald Trump will not.”
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