“And, frankly, I don’t think anybody should defend him because he spews lies every night. So I don’t know why anybody would defend him. But Chris Cuomo was out of control. I watched it. I thought it was terrible,” he added.
After the video was circulated, many people came to Cuomo’s defense saying that the anchor should not have been subjected to such conduct in front of his family. Meanwhile, others were more critical of Cuomo for threatening the man, including Trump.
“Well, I think Chris Cuomo was so out of control that I would not have wanted to see a weapon in his hand,” Trump told reporters. “I guess his fist is not a weapon or he would have done something. You know, he talked about it but he didn’t do anything.”
“But I think Chris Cuomo was very much out of control, actually,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Trump had written several posts on Twitter reacting to the video. In one of the posts, the president questioned whether Cuomo should be given a “red flag” for his rant while indirectly referring to the gun violence prevention laws.
Cuomo responded to the video, writing in a post on Aug. 13: “Appreciate all the support but—truth is I should be better than the guys baiting me. This happens all the time these days. Often in front of my family. But there is a lesson: no need to add to the ugliness; I should be better than what I oppose.”
Cuomo’s network CNN also came out with a statement, saying the anchor was being attacked in an “orchestrated setup.”
“Chris Cuomo defended himself when he was verbally attacked with the use of an ethnic slur in an orchestrated setup. We completely support him,” Matt Dornic, vice president of communication for the network, said.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. pointed out that Cuomo did not take issue with the word “Fredo” being used by a commentator in the past.