CNN anchor Dana Bash shut down Trump ally Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) over the Charlie Kirk comments that got late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show suspended, which Bash said are being “interpreted incorrectly.”

The media world was shaken Wednesday night by the news that ABC has suspended Kimmel’s show “indefinitely,” just hours after he was targeted by Brendan Carr, President Donald Trump’s hand-picked FCC commissioner.

Kimmel was singled out for a comment he made during a monologue on Monday’s edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live!:

JIMMY KIMMEL: We hit some new lows over the weekend, with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.

On Thursday’s edition of CNN’s Inside Politics, Bash stopped Fine when he claimed that Kimmel’s comments amounted to “blaming MAGA for Kirk’s death” and told him emphatically “That’s not what he said!”:

DANA BASH: What specifically did you have a problem with in what he said?

REP. RANDY FINE: I think the first part of it was the troubling part, to say, this is MAGA, descending to new lows, he was a MAGA person.

By the way, you didn’t hear anybody laughing by all of that when he made those comments. And they’re very, very offensive.

DANA BASH: Yeah, I mean he did, he said “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who was, who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”.

That is specifically what he said. And you said the FCC, having an FCC license is a privilege is the word you used. You think that kind of statement is something that should strip him of the ability to in a place that is governed by the FCC.

REP. RANDY FINE: Well, ABC made the decision to strip him. But what I would say is this. A broadcast license is a license.

Look, I’ve gone after people in Florida who are making horrific statements, and they are in a position of privilege. If they’re a government employee, or they’re funded by the government, or they have a government license, these are not rights.

You can say whatever you want, but if you’re in a positions of government privilege, you should think about it. Obviously, ABC decided that he crossed the line.

DANA BASH: They decided after a very important person, the chair of the FCC, Brendan Carr, said “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action.”

And a really important dynamic here is money and the business merger that one of the biggest ABC affiliate groups, Nextar, wants. This is… Actually, the nation’s largest TV broadcasting group has more than 200 stations. They announced a deal to acquire another Tegna $6.2 billion deal that’s including debt.

And that would require the FCC chair Brendan Carr to sign off on it. It’s not just a business decision where they are necessarily getting complaints from some viewers.

It is a business decisions and what they need from the government, which is being very clear, the Trump administration, that they don’t want Jimmy Kimmel on the air.

REP. RANDY FINE: I think it’s more than that. I think that we live in a world where a meaningful percentage of people now believe violence is legitimized, and they get it. They get it.

DANA BASH: He didn’t legitimize violence.

REP. RANDY FINE: They– he didn’t, but those comments blaming MAGA for the death of Charlie Kirk?

DANA BASH: That’s not what he did! Listen, I’m not here to defend–.

REP. RANDY FINE: That’s how I interpreted it.

DANA BASH: But it’s not what he said.

REP. RANDY FINE: Well, that’s…

DANA BASH: And that’s being interpreted incorrectly.

Watch above via CNN’s Inside Politics.

The post ‘That’s Not What He Said!’ CNN Anchor Shuts Down Trump Ally Over Jimmy Kimmel-Charlie Kirk Rant first appeared on Mediaite.

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