A 19-year-old white grocery store clerk from Michigan made 22 calls to CNN threatening to kill reporters, but he was arrested and released all in time for him to be home for dinner.
Two weeks ago, Brandon Griesemer made a series of calls to CNN threatening violence and using slurs against African-Americans and Jewish people.
“Fake news. I’m coming to gun you all down,” Griesemer said in one call.
“You are going down. I have a gun and I am coming to Georgia right now to go to the CNN headquarters to f***ing gun down every single last one of you. I have a team of people. It’s going to be great, man,” he said in another. “You gotta get prepared for this one.”
STUDENT TARGETED AFTER FAKE NEWS FAIL
The calls came in with alarming frequency as Griesemer continued his vitriolic rant against the “fake news.”
He was charged and arrested on Friday over the threats, but that same day, he was released on $10,000 bail.
Griesemer is white, so he gets better treatment.
This is just another example of a frustrating and dangerous double standard when it comes to white supremacist threats in the United States under the Donald Trump administration.
As Shaun King of The Intercept noted, “If you think for a single solitary moment that a Muslim-American who made 22 hateful, violent calls to CNN threatening mass casualties would’ve been charged, arrested, and released on the same day, with a bond of any kind, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.”
With Trump continuing to attack the free press, most recently with his “Fake News Awards,” it was only a matter of time before his supporters started to put action to his words.
But for as much as Trump claims to be against terrorism, in this case of death threats and a clear intent for domestic terror, he has been silent. Not even a tweet.
And in the meantime, this man who made over 20 threats to the free press, walks free.