The altercation occurred outside Trump’s arraignment.
QUICK FACTS:
- A sound man for CBS News attacked independent journalist Oren Levy outside of Trump’s arraignment in New York on Tuesday.
- The situation occurred as Representative George Santos (R-NY) passed through the crowd.
- Levy told The Post Millennial, “I was filming George Santos, a huge crowd of cameras were around him. The guy that hit me started telling me I should move. He also tried to push my out coffee of my hand and was elbowing me in the back. I told him to chill then he attacked me.”
- The CBS sound man grabbed Levy’s jacket and yelled, “Don’t ever [expletive] with me.” A moment later he said, “I will kill your [expletive].”
- The assailant is reportedly David Forde from CBS News, although the information has yet to be confirmed.
Warning: The video below contains explicit language
REACTIONS TO THE ALTERCATION:
- Columnist Benny Johnson tweeted, “What if it’s the media who is really the one inviting violence?”
- WPIX-TV journalist Jay Dow claimed the incident started after Levy used a racist slur.
- Levy replied that the comment was a “bold claim” and suggested Dow “look [Levy] up and see [Levy] would never say that. But have him release that since his mic was on.”
- According to The Blaze, a CBS-2/CBS News New York spokesperson asserted “we do not have any reporters by that name,” referring to David Forde.
BACKGROUND:
- Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business records brought against him in New York.
- Trump described the cases against him as “massive election interference at a scale never seen” in order to prevent him from continuing his third presidential run.
- “I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago. “The only crime that I’ve committed has been to fearlessly defend our nation against those who seek to destroy it.”