Trump defender and Federalist reporter Brianna Lyman lashed out at CNN when anchor Abby Phillip showed her a clip of President Donald Trump announcing “We took the freedom of speech away” — a clip Lyman admitted she hadn’t seen.
Trump made the stunning declaration at a White House event devoted to his campaign against “Antifa”:
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We took the freedom of speech away because that’s been through the courts and the court said you have freedom of speech but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds, they’ve never seen anything like it on both sides and you end up with riots.
So we’re going on that basis. We’re looking at it from not — from the freedom of speech, which I always felt strongly about, but never passed the courts. This is what they do is they incite. When you burn an American flag, you incite tremendous violence.
On Wednesday’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip hosted a panel comprised of Lyman, Cornel West, Phil Williams, and Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY).
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The anchor was stunned when Lyman attacked CNN after seeing the clip for the first time, and tried to characterize Trump’s statement as a joke:
