CNN cuts away from Trump RNC speech, likens president to Pontius Pilate

CNN broke away from its coverage Monday of the Republican National Convention during President Donald Trump's address to party delegates, in order to "fact-check" his statements, and compared the president to Pontius Pilate — the Roman governor of Judaea who handed Jesus Christ over to be crucified.

What are the details?

The left-leaning news outlet cut off Trump's speech to offer input on the president's statements while Fox News and MSNBC stayed, according to The Hill, allowing anchors at CNN to provide their own fact-checks.

Host Anderson Cooper said of the president's statements, "It is sort of all the most recent greatest hits and false statements by the president, and I imagine what we're going to hear a lot this week from the president who clearly wants to be out front every single day."

Chief national correspondent John King replied, "It underscores the challenge, Anderson, for us in the news business and really for people watching at home if you are a voter who has not decided — if you are a voter who is not firm in your decision — to watch the next four days, because this is a sad thing to say, but a lot of what you just heard from the president of the United States is wrong, misleading, or outright lies.

"He was the disruptive outsider last time, there were all these character questions about him in 2016, but … there were enough people in enough places who wanted something different in Washington," King continued. "They wanted Washington disrupted, they voted for Donald Trump and he got his Electoral College victory. Now he is the beleaguered incumbent, and you're right, he often almost seems like Pontius Pilate."

Mediaite reported that CNN cut away "as Trump ranted against mail-in voting, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's hearing before the House, and the RNC's lack of cable news coverage."

Anything else?

Liberal Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) also compared Trump to Pontius Pilate on CNN three years ago, accusing the president of "washing his hands" of the situation when he decided to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

TheBlaze's Dave Urbanski noted at the time:

Among Pilate's actions was a moment on Good Friday when — after determining Jesus committed no crime but seeing the crowd who wanted him dead getting angrier — he symbolically cast away responsibility for what was about to happen to Jesus by washing his hands.

"I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!" (Matthew 27:24).

With that, the Gospel says, Pilate "had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified."