A supporter of President Donald Trump threatened "to shoot" CNN anchors Brian Stelter and Don Lemon during a call with C-SPAN while on the air Friday.
Host Greta Brawner identified the caller as "Don from State College, Pa." — and he said he supported Trump's recent attacks on the news media, HuffPost reports.
"It all started when Trump got elected," the caller said.
He then falsely accused Lemon and Stelter of tagging all "Trump supporters racist."
"They don't even know us," the caller said. "They don't even know these Americans out here, and they’re calling us racist because we voted for Trump?
"C'mon, give me a break.
"They started the war," the caller continued. "If I see 'em, I'm going to shoot 'em. Bye."
He then hung up.
Brawner did not acknowledge the threat on the air Friday, though she later reminded other callers to "turn down that television, and listen and talk through the phone."
Howard Mortman, C-SPAN's communications director, told HuffPost that Brawner did not address the caller's threat during the broadcast because she did not hear it.
"If she had, she would have said something on air," he said.
On his Sunday CNN program, Stelter discussed the threat — "I don't think I'm in extreme danger," he said — and noted neither he nor Lemon had ever described all Trump supporters as "racist."
Stelter said he did not know why the caller felt this way, later saying: "I just thought the timing was odd."
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