CNN proved themselves to be biased fools in the summer of 2020 when they claimed the Black Lives Matter Riots were “fiery but mostly peaceful.” Well, ABC News told them to hold their beer Thursday morning as they had correspondent Trevor Ault assert that the anti-Semitic/pro-Hamas encampment at UCLA was “largely peaceful” with no sign of “fighting back” against police while admitting that they were throwing stuff and using fire extinguishers to gas them.
The California Highway Patrol crackdown on the UCLA encampment, where they employed Nazi-style tactics against the Jews on campus, was already underway as ABC’s Good Morning America came on the air at 7:00 a.m. and was the first story they got to.
Ault was live on the scene where he reported “So far, we haven't seen a lot of physical resistance other than standing their ground.” But he did admit: “If anything, we’ve seen a few demonstrators who were throwing bottles, tossing water, and you actually at some points see some smoke that we believe is from fire extinguishers.”
According to Poison Control, the contents of fire extinguishers can be very harmful:
People with lung conditions like asthma or someone deliberately sprayed at close range can have more serious respiratory effects and might need medical attention. Contact of these powders with the eyes, nose, throat, and skin can cause irritation, which should improve after rinsing the exposed area. Deliberate inhalation or ingestion can cause serious symptoms such as pneumonia, seizures, irregular heartbeat, and kidney failure.
Throwing things and spraying chemicals in the face of law enforcement doesn’t sound like what non-violent demonstrators do. And Ault might have had someone give him a strong talking-to about disclosing those facts because it was the last time they were mentioned all morning.
In his 7:30 and 8:00-a.m. live shots, Ault dropped all mentions of the anti-Semitic mob throwing anything and using fire extinguishers. “They have said to me that their plan is never to fight back. That is not how they go about things,” Ault defended them in the 7:30 live shot. “Although, at least from what I have seen on the ground, we haven't been seeing people fight back. It's more about standing their ground.”
“So, they’ve been saying they're going to be peaceful,” he reported around 8:00. “We haven't seen violent clashes but you have to anticipate at any moment law enforcement is going to begin making a lot of arrests.”
Ault’s next report didn’t come until after ABC broke into The View to air President Biden’s address condemning the encampments.
After the address, they went to Ault for an update on the situation at UCLA. Possibly in response to those calling him out online for his earlier ridiculous description of the peaceful violence, Ault tried to have it both ways:
Now, I do want to specify from at least what we saw. This was a largely peaceful demonstration, at least in terms of the protesters not fighting back against the law enforcement presence that was there. But they also didn't necessarily give themselves up.
“And what we've heard from California Highway Patrol so far is that at least 132 people have been arrested here for this unlawful gathering,” he added.
The transcripts are below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
May 2, 2024
7:03:51 a.m. Eastern(…)
TREVOR AULT: So far, we haven't seen a lot of physical resistance other than standing their ground. We’ve seen some of them very distressed but screaming that they don't have weapons but still not giving up their ground here. If anything, we’ve seen a few demonstrators who were throwing bottles, tossing water, and you actually at some points see some smoke that we believe is from fire extinguishers.
But mainly we’re watching as these protesters are standing their ground after what has been many, many days here on campus of very intense situations that has escalated significantly just in the past 45 minutes or so. And this is probably one of the most intense clashes that we’ve seen as these campuses have been playing out all over the country.
(…)
7:30:44 a.m. Eastern
AULT: We have been watching over those several days as they’ve basically been preparing for this moment. You’ll notice, if you look closely, that a lot of these demonstrators have hard hats, a lot have gas masks, a lot have eye-protective wear, too.
They have said to me that their plan is never to fight back. That is not how they go about things. But when I was asking them about it, it was largely about counter protesters; it could be a different thing with law enforcement involved. Although, at least from what I have seen on the ground, we haven't been seeing people fight back. It's more about standing their ground.
The big question now is how does law enforcement move forward?
(…)
8:02:51 a.m. Eastern
AULT: Those protesters have been preparing for any kind of law enforcement tactics; they have hard hats; they have gas masks. So, they’ve been saying they're going to be peaceful. We haven't seen violent clashes but you have to anticipate at any moment law enforcement is going to begin making a lot of arrests. These are perhaps the most intense moments we’ve seen of what have been many days of tense moments at campuses across the country.
(…)
The View (Break in for President Biden’s address & follow-up reports)
11:13:03AULT: Now, I do want to specify from at least what we saw. This was a largely peaceful demonstration, at least in terms of the protesters not fighting back against the law enforcement presence that was there. But they also didn't necessarily give themselves up. And so, law enforcement basically pushed them up against that library till it was one on one. They pulled them apart, put them into zip ties and took them away. And what we've heard from California Highway Patrol so far is that at least 132 people have been arrested here for this unlawful gathering.
(…)
