CNN’s Chris Cuomo was accused of siding with the "mob" on Tuesday night during a contentious interview with Mark McCloskey, the man who went viral for brandishing a gun alongside his wife as the couple protected their home from protesters.
The couple told police the protesters broke a gate to get onto the private street in St. Louis, and the pair say they only retrieved their firearms when they spotted “multiple” people who were already armed, police department records show.
Cuomo began the interview by asking McCloskey what if feels like to have become the “face of political resistance to the Black Lives Matter movement.”
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McCloskey shot back that it was a “completely ridiculous” statement and said he was simply protecting his home.
“I’m not the face of anything opposed to the Black Lives Matter movement, I was a person scared for my life,” he said. “I was a victim of a mob that came through the gate, I didn’t care what color they were.”
McCloskey then said he has watched his city crumble and evoked the tragic death of retired St. Louis police captain David Dorn, who was shot and killed when attempting to protect a pawnshop from looters last month.
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Cuomo dismissed McCloskey’s fears and asked, “To be clear, did anything happen to you or your property?”
McCloskey said, “It’s called social intimidation ... terrorism.”
Cuomo then scolded McCloskey for pointing a loaded weapon at protesters who were reportedly looking for the mayor’s home, but McCloskey said you cannot reach the mayor’s residence through his neighborhood. The two bickered over whether or not McCloskey was terrorized as the homeowner repeated claims that he felt threatened.
NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck wrote, “Cuomo spent over 13 minutes siding with the St. Louis mob” during his interview with McCloskey and his attorney, Albert Watkins.
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“Instead of showing concern, Cuomo dismissed their right to feel safe in their homes, stand their ground when threatened by trespassers, and hilariously wondered whether it was necessary to brandish weapons since, in the end, the mob didn’t storm their house,” Houck wrote. “Cuomo apparently didn’t make the connection that brandishing guns would deter people from following through on their threats, but what do any of us know.”
Cuomo bickered with McCloskey and his attorney about the details of the encounter for several minutes, with the CNN host repeatedly dismissing concerns. At one point Cuomo mistakenly said President Trump deleted a tweet showing McCloskey and his wife touting their weapons.
“I’m glad you’re a mind reader, because no one else thinks you are,” McCloskey told Cuomo, who then corrected himself and said Trump did not delete the tweet.
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