CNN anchor Jim Acosta sparred with Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., over President Donald Trump’s pardons for January 6 defendants in a heated clash on the liberal network that quickly went viral on social media.
On his first day in office on Monday, Trump signed pardons for approximately 1,500 defendants who were charged with crimes stemming from the riot at the U.S. Capitol, fulfilling a promise he made in December to act quickly and pardon them.
Acosta grilled Burchett over the pardons on his show Wednesday and demanded he condemn them.
Burchett told Acosta that many of these defendants were not given due process and those who trespassed the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, should not “rot in jail for the rest of their lives in a federal penitentiary and never be charged.”
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As Acosta continued to press him to condemn the pardons, Burchett said that he did not know the details of each person’s case but said that those who broke the law should be in jail.
“What happened to ‘back the blue’? What happened to backing police officers?” Acosta asked heatedly. “Your party has said time and again, ‘We back the blue.’ It sounds like you let down the blue! You’re betraying the blue!”
Burchett accused CNN of selective outrage towards Trump’s pardons when former President Joe Biden commuted sentences for murderers and child rapists before he left office.
He asked Acosta why there wasn’t a demand for justice for the violence that occurred during the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020.
“Why don’t you just give an editorial and not let me come on?” the Republican shot back. “Look what happened in the last four years with police? What happened with all the riots that took place all across the country? Police officers were murdered. Courthouses were burned. Over 22 police cars were burned. Yet no one went to jail for that.”
“Where are your crocodile tears for that?” he asked Acosta.
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Acosta accused Burchett of engaging in “whataboutism” before pleading with his guest again to condemn Trump.
“Why not just say, ‘You were wrong, Mr. President?’ Say it! Why can’t you say it?” Acosta pressed.
The two continued the debate for nearly 10 minutes, with Burchett calling the treatment of Jan. 6 defendants “political from the start.”
He relayed how some of his own constituents, who had left the Capitol grounds before the riot began that day, had been visited and “harassed” by the FBI.
As Acosta continued to press Burchett to criticize Trump’s actions, the Republican slammed CNN for its ratings and bias.
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“You all continue this, this narrative of attacking Trump. You just can’t stand the fact that he won and that America spoke and that your view is very diminished,” Burchett said.
Video clips of the segment went viral on X on Wednesday. Burchett shared a clip on his own account, slamming CNN for trying to “lecture” his party on morality after Biden’s controversial pardons.
The Justice Department reported that approximately 140 police officers were assaulted during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. That included law enforcement members from both the U.S. Capitol Police and about 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department.
Fox News’ Diana Stancy contributed to this article.
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