Trump says media uses bomb case to score
political points against him
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[October 27, 2018]
By Steve Holland
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Reuters) - President
Donald Trump accused the U.S. news media on Friday of using reporting on
the suspect in least 14 bombs sent to some of his prominent critics to
score political points against him.
Hours after a Trump supporter, Cesar Sayoc, was arrested in Florida in
the bomb case, Trump told a political rally in Charlotte, North
Carolina, that political violence must never be tolerated.
"I will do all I can to stop it," he said.
But any major attempt to heal political divisions was quickly set aside
as Trump renewed attacks on his usual targets: the news media and his
Democratic opponents.
"We have seen an effort by the media in recent hours to use the sinister
actions of one individual to score political points against me and the
Republican Party," Trump said.
Trump appeared to be commenting on cable news blanket coverage of the
bomb case and how the people targeted are frequently criticized by the
president.
Trump was in Charlotte campaigning for Republican candidates ahead of
the hotly contested Nov. 6 U.S. congressional elections, with
Republicans are trying to hang on to control of the House of
Representatives and the Senate.
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Some in the crowd on Friday quickly chimed in with a cry that is a
familiar one at Trump's political rallies: "CNN sucks."
Trump paused while the CNN chant continued, then added: "And they do
have a major role to play as far as tone. The media's constant unfair
coverage ... and negative attacks only serve to drive people apart and
to undermine healthy debate."
When Trump criticized Democrats, the crowd chanted "lock her up," a
refrain from the Republican president's 2016 campaign when he called
Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton "Crooked Hillary." Trump again
referred to Clinton as "Crooked Hillary" on Friday night when he listed
Democrats who supposedly had supported building a wall on the U.S.
border with Mexico.
Clinton was the target of one of the bombs sent this week, which was
intercepted during a routine off-site mail screening.
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![](../images/102718pics/news_r25.jpg)
President Donald Trump waves to the crowd at a campaign rally in
Charlotte, North Carolina U.S., October 26, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin
Lamarque
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"They're gonna be reporting about you tonight," Trump told the crowd
in North Carolina.
Trump said Republicans did not try to seek political gain over the
Democrats when a supporter of democratic socialist Bernie Sanders
opened fire on congressional Republicans at a baseball field last
year and severely wounded Representative Steve Scalise.
"We did not use that heinous attempt at mass murder for political
gain because that would have been wrong. ... Nor do we blame the
Democrat party every time radical leftists seize and destroy public
property and unleash violence and mayhem," he said.
Trump made similar comments on Thursday, blaming the news media for
stirring up anger and hateful political rhetoric as two more
suspicious packages were discovered. In a post on Twitter he
referred to "purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the
Mainstream Media."
Trump hinted earlier on Friday in a tweet that the news media's
coverage of the bomb case was taking attention away from the midterm
elections at a time when Republicans may be hitting their stride.
"Republicans all over the country, we're hot," Trump said in
Charlotte. "We're hot and I don't think they’re going to cool us
off. They try so hard. But I don't think that's going to happen."
(Reporting by Steve Holland in Charlotte, North Carlina; Additional
reporting by Mohammad Zargham in Washington; Editing by Leslie
Adler)
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