Trump: Media uses pipe bomb case to score ‘political points’

President Donald Trump has accused the US news media of using reporting on the suspect in at least 14 bombs sent to some of his prominent critics to score political points against him.

Hours after a Trump supporter, Cesar Sayoc, was arrested in Florida in the bomb case, Trump told a political rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, that political violence must never be tolerated.

“I will do all I can to stop it,” he said.

But any attempt to heal political divisions was quickly set aside as Trump renewed attacks on his usual targets; the news media and his Democratic opponents.

“We have seen an effort by the media in recent hours to use the sinister actions of one individual to score political points against me and the Republican Party,” Trump said.

Trump appeared to be commenting on cable news blanket coverage of the bomb case and how the people targeted are frequently criticised by the president.

Trump was in Charlotte campaigning for Republican candidates ahead of the hotly contested November 6 US congressional elections, with Republicans are trying to hang on to control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Some in the crowd on Friday quickly chimed in with a cry that is a familiar one at Trump’s political rallies: “CNN sucks.”

Trump paused while the CNN chant continued, then added: “And they do have a major role to play as far as tone. The media’s constant unfair coverage … and negative attacks only serve to drive people apart and to undermine healthy debate.”

When Trump criticised Democrats, the crowd chanted “lock her up,” a refrain from the Republican president’s 2016 campaign when he called Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton “Crooked Hillary.”

Trump again referred to Clinton as “Crooked Hillary” on Friday night when he listed Democrats who supposedly had supported building a wall on the US border with Mexico.

Clinton was the target of one of the bombs sent this week, which was intercepted during a routine off-site mail screening.

“They’re gonna be reporting about you tonight,” Trump told the crowd in North Carolina.

The crowd was chanting messages against media even before Trump landed in North Carolina. 

This is the second “CNN sucks” crowd chant this evening at the Bojangles Coliseum, before President Trump has landed here in Charlotte pic.twitter.com/1Y1sKvQh0B

— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) October 26, 2018

Starting with a suspected explosive device sent to the home of liberal billionaire philanthropist and financier George Soros, at least 10 packages containing pipe bombs have been mailed to prominent critics of Trump this week.

Other packages were addressed to former US President Barack Obama, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, US Congresswoman Maxine Waters, actor Robert Deniro and former CIA director John Brennan in care of CNN, among others.

Hateful rhetoric

Later in the rally, Trump also said Republicans did not try to seek political gain over the Democrats when a supporter of democratic socialist Bernie Sanders opened fire on congressional Republicans at a baseball field last year and severely wounded Representative Steve Scalise.

“We did not use that heinous attempt at mass murder for political gain because that would have been wrong … Nor do we blame the Democrat party every time radical leftists seize and destroy public property and unleash violence and mayhem,” he said.

Trump made similar comments on Thursday, blaming the news media for stirring up anger and hateful political rhetoric as two more suspicious packages were discovered.

A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2018

Trump hinted earlier on Friday in a tweet that the news media’s coverage of the bomb case was taking attention away from the midterm elections at a time when Republicans may be hitting their stride.

“Republicans all over the country, we’re hot,” Trump said in Charlotte. “We’re hot and I don’t think they’re going to cool us off. They try so hard. But I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Since coming to office, Trump has been widely criticised by rights groups and press freedom organisations for his frequent criticism of the media.

After five press workers were killed by a shotgun-wielding man in Maryland in June, the US became the second most dangerous country for journalists during the first half of 2018, according to the International News Safety Institute.