CNN host Chris Cuomo apologized to viewers Friday evening after the network aired a video President Trump shared on Twitter showing footage of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Tweeted by Mr. Trump hours earlier, the 43-second video contrasted graphic clips from 9/11 with an out-of-context remark made last month by Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Democrat.
“I apologize to the families of the victims of 9/11 and people who were there that day,” Mr. Cuomo said after playing the video posted by the president. “That video should not be used in political hit ads. I’m using it to make a point. I didn’t make the ad. If I thought about it more, I don’t think I’d even play the ad. So I apologize to you. I do not mean to revisit your nightmares. I’m sorry if that’s the effect it has.”
A native New Yorker, the CNN host is the son of the state’s late former governor, Mario Cuomo, and the brother of its current governor, Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats. He was a correspondent for ABC News during 9/11 and last year recalled being at the scene, tweeting: “I was there, felt the loss deeply and personally and mourn those I lost.”
“I don’t care if it’s positive about how far we’ve come since 9/11 — whatever it is. I’m not going to show those images of that day,” he said Friday evening. “I know what they mean to the families. This happened quickly with this video. I won’t do it again.”
Democratic leaders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and several 2020 presidential hopefuls criticized Mr. Trump after he tweeted the video Friday, which juxtaposed footage from 9/11 along with a brief excerpt from a speech Ms. Omar gave last month at an event hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.
“CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties,” Ms. Omar said at the event.
The video shared by Mr. Trump omits the second part and instead keeps repeating Ms. Omar saying “some people did something.”
“The memory of 9/11 is sacred ground, and any discussion of it must be done with reverence. The President shouldn’t use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack,” Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, reacted Saturday. “It is wrong for the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to fan the flames to make anyone less safe.”
Contrary to Ms. Omar’s claim, CAIR was formed in 1994, although the advocacy group significantly ramped up its efforts after Islamic terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people on 9/11 in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.