CNN’s Dana Bash interrupted a Republican Congressman Sunday as he tried to skirt a question about Donald Trump’s attacks on the daughter of a judge in his hush money trial.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) had been dancing around Bash’s question about the ex-president's social media attacks targeting Loren Merchan, in which he named her and claimed her work as a political consultant proved his trial was biased.
Bash also asked about Trump posting violent images showing President Joe Biden hogtied.
“He has been aggressively attacking the judge, overseeing one of his trials, in your state of New York,” said Bash.
“He's also gone after the judge's daughter, posting her name and picture on social media on Friday. He targeted another perceived enemy, the president of the United States, his rival for the White House. He posted a video with violent imagery of Biden hogtied in the back of a pickup truck.
“Does Trump going after a judge's family, promoting violent images of President Biden, cross a line?”
But Lawler dodged the question.
“Look, I think obviously the former president has every right to defend himself in court. He has every right to defend himself as through the proper legal channels,” he said.
“I think everyone needs to tone down down the rhetoric, the language and obviously social media has become a vehicle by which to bludgeon people. I just think at the end of the day, the former president, current president, and on down, all of us have a responsibility to check our language, to watch what we're saying, and to focus on the issues at hand at the end of the day.”
But Bash wouldn’t let him duck giving her an answer and butted into his response.
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‘To be fair,” she said, “When you have a candidate for president who is facing a legal situation going after not the judge, not just the judge, but putting photos of the judge’s daughter, name, and face on social media. I just want to be clear. Are you denouncing that?
“I know you talked about both sides, but I'm asking you about this specific issue.”
Again, Lawler avoided denouncing Trump’s actions.
“Listen, Dana, families should always be off limits obviously, the former president has every right to defend himself in court but I think the focus of this campaign and this election should be on the American people and the issues facing the American people.”
