Journalist Chris Cuomo revealed Monday that he called former President Donald Trump after the second assassination attempt against him, saying he is “ashamed” of the “unacceptable” reaction from the media.
The former CNN host, who anchored a show at the network for eight years until 2021, made the remarks on his primetime NewsNation show Monday night.
“The reaction is unacceptable,” Cuomo said. “Media and political players have gotten away with playing down what should be a cause for panic.”
On Sunday, Trump was targeted by a suspect who pointed an AK-47-style rifle through a fence at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course. Secret Service opened fire on the suspect, who fled but was later arrested. Trump remained safe and unharmed during the incident.
“‘Oh but the guy didn’t even shoot.’ What if it was your father? Or what if it was Kamala Harris or President Biden, God forbid?” Cuomo said. “Do you think that it would be almost a shoulder shrug and more talk about the Secret Service and allocation of funds than just how crazy it is that this is what’s happening in our country?”
Cuomo also slammed the “fake concern by our sitting president and almost nothing from the Democrat who wants to lead us.”
“I called former President Trump,” Cuomo said. “I didn’t ask him any questions. I didn’t go after him about his role. I just want to know how his family’s taking this.”
“I wanted to just say, listen, I’m really sorry that this is going on and it’s being dealt with this way,” Cuomo continued. “Not because I’m in favor of his politics or what he says. I criticize him all the time. That’s my job, and he deserves it. But he doesn’t deserve this, a guy pointing an AK-47 at him while he’s playing golf? And we take solace in the fact that the guy didn’t get any rounds off? That does not work for me. If I had been through what that guy has been through in the last two months you would not know where I am. You would never see me on TV again. No way I would do that. I don’t know how he does it. He’s got kids that are adults, but he’s got grandkids. He’s got a wife.”
Cuomo also said critics should apologize to Trump’s wife, Melania, for mocking her fears about plots against her husband.
Last week, Don Lemon, another former CNN anchor, posted a video of himself rolling his eyes and criticizing a video of Melania Trump expressing concerns about the “horrible and distressing experience” of watching her husband be nearly assassinated.
“I don’t think she’s right, but I totally get why she feels that way, and people mock her?” Cuomo said.
Cuomo added that the rhetoric around both candidates is overblown, saying Trump is not a “despot in waiting” and Vice President Kamala Harris is “not a communist.”
“You can think what you want about Trump,” he said. “He does not have many more full-throated critics of what he says and does than me, okay? And yet I called him today because I am ashamed of how we are responding and not responding to the threats on him. And I feel for his family.”
