Democratic strategist Xochitl Hinojosa clashed with CNN’s Scott Jennings on Thursday after he said a “mob” of pro-Hamas protesters “stormed Trump Tower.”
The demonstrators from Jewish Voice for Peace occupied the first floor of Trump Tower Thursday to protest the Trump administration’s revocation of the green card of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University, who was arrested by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on March 8. Hinojosa invoked the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol building while discussing the occupation of Trump Tower.
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“What I want to remind you both, that it was Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6th. When January 6th happened this year, what happened? It wasn‘t Democrats storming the Capitol. Actually, guess what? No one stormed the Capitol this January 6th. And so —” Hinojosa said before Jennings cut in, responding, “Did you look at the video in New York City today, the people who took over Trump Tower, the people screaming at folks on the streets? Who are those folks?”
“People were protesting. People were protesting. They were not storming —” Hinojosa responded before Jennings said, “They stormed Trump Tower.”
The Trump administration cancelled over $400 million in federal grants from four federal agencies after Columbia University failed to respond to the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism about its handling of the pro-Hamas protests.
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“They were not storming —” Hinojosa said before Jennings cut in, saying, “They were inside of it.”
“They were not storming the Capitol. They were not — They were not trying to hurt a member of Congress,” Hinojosa claimed, while “CNN NewsNight” host Abby Phillip added, “The lobby of Trump Tower is not Trump Tower.”
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the radical Islamic terrorist group Hamas that killed over 1,200 people in Israel, anti-Israel protesters occupied buildings, chanted a slogan that has connotations of wiping out Israel and blocked Jewish students from parts of campus during demonstrations at multiple universities and colleges.
“You are gonna defend that mob? I mean —” Jennings said before Phillip and Hinojosa both interrupted him.
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“There were thousands of people who were prosecuted for January 6th —” Hinojosa said, while Phillip chimed in with, “I’m not defending any mob.”
After further back and forth, Jennings reminded the CNN panel what he previously said about the riot.
“You can scream — you can scream at me all you want, but I have every single day condemned the events of January the 6th,” Jennings said. “Then, now, and I will continue to do it.”
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
