Last Saturday Christopher Moynihan, who had previously received a pardon from Donald Trump for his role in the January 6th protests, was arrested for allegedly making death threats against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). On Tuesday, Moynihan pleaded not guilty. That night, it was discussed on CNN's News Night with Abby Phillip, and at times, the host wasn't pleased with her two conservative guests.
Phillips started by going after Trump's "blanket pardon" of the January 6th participants. She then turned to Lydia Moynihan of the New York Post, who specifically denounced the threat to Jeffries right from the start.
MOYNIHAN: Well first this is absolutely horrific and disgusting and I'm so grateful that the FBI is as impressive as they are and was able to capture this. There's a man named Alton Mills who Barack Obama pardoned, who was a violent criminal and went on to murder somebody else....This is disgusting, but I think to take a bigger look at what's going on there is, in fact, one party that frequently releases violent criminals and puts them back on the street, and that is the Democratic Party who's soft on crime... Decarlos Brown, who was arrested 14 times and went on to murder someone. So, I think that is a bigger problem than Americans are facing today. And as for Hakeem Jeffries, absolutely disgusting that somebody wanted to target him, and I'm so grateful that the FBI discovered that plot.
Moynihan brought up Obama pardoning Mills, and used the horrific case of Decarlos Brown Jr., arrested 14 times over the span of a decade, and wound up brutally murdering Ukrainian immigrant Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte lightrail this past August, to drive home her point that Democrats are soft on crime. She left no doubt that she was outraged by the threat to Jeffries, calling it horrific and disgusting.
But it's as if Phillip didn't hear that part: "So, a few weeks ago, rhetoric was the issue and was the source of political violence on the left. Now, here's a man who was pardoned by this president for a violent act who then threatens a member of Congress, Congressional leadership, and it's no big deal?"
Who was Phillip listening to? Moynihan responded, "It is a big deal, absolutely. It's a huge deal. The plot was foiled. And, thankfully, everyone is safe." And soon it would be time for a Scott Jennings turn.
JENNINGS: It is a risk when you blanket pardon a group without really looking into the individuals. The same risk applies to Joe Biden, who pardoned thousands of drug criminals without looking into the individual files at the end of his administration...
PHILLIP: Can I ask you a question about that? Are you suggesting that because Joe Biden did not personally look into each file, or because it did not go through a process? Because I'm not sure it didn't go through a process, but you're saying --
JENNINGS: What I'm saying the president -- it's pretty well-reported that the president himself did not go through each individual case.
PHILLIP: Sure. But I --
JENNINGS: And I'm just saying simply it's a risk....Whenever you do a large group of people and you're the president, the buck stops with you. You're ultimately responsible for what happens...
I have no tolerance for people threatening to kill anyone, from Hakeem Jeffries to Brett Kavanaugh, to the other kinds of things we've seen. I have no tolerance for it.
Neither Moynihan or Jennings said anything wrong, nor did they diminish the seriousness of the threat against Hakeem Jeffries. What they did was add context to the story. They proved that leftist policies have resulted in horrific criminal acts, and that Trump isn't the only President who has pardoned someone who has gone on to do more harm. Phillip either can't process that, or she has no interest in having her "trash Donald Trump segment" disturbed by facts and opposing viewpoints.
