This same reporter...
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, who claims that Black Lives Matter agitator Mercutio Southall, Jr. was “shoved, tackled, punched, and kicked†by attendees at the Donald Trump rally in Birmingham on Saturday, is refusing to answer questions from Breitbart News about how he came to be so well positioned to shoot a video of the incident just as it was breaking out.
The incident took place a full 200 yards from the designated “media pen†where all credentialed press were supposed to be during Trump’s speech.
“[A] half-dozen attendees shoved and tackled the protester, a black man, to the ground as he refused to leave the event. At least one man punched the protester and a woman kicked him while he was on the ground,†CNN’s Diamond wrote.
The video Diamond shot of the incident doesn’t appear to show Southall being “tackled, punched, and kicked.†It does show Southall shoving attendees and throwing a punch that fails to connect, and of attendees shoving back.
A spokesperson for the Birmingham Police Department tells Breitbart News Southall is the “number one agitator†in the local Black Lives Matter [BLM] group.
“We’ve already reached out to Mercutio Southall several times. We’re very familiar with Mr. Southall. He’s a part of the BLM group in our city. He’s the number one agitator. He likes to get his point across,†Birmingham Police Department’s Public Information Officer, Lt. Sean Edwards, tells Breitbart News.
Edwards was not at the Trump rally. But he tells Breitbart News that there is no evidence that Mr. Southall was “tackled, punched, and kicked,†as CNN’s Diamond reported.
“The video we saw [taken by CNN]… it’s kind of hard to see all of that detail… kind of hard to see that,†Edwards tells Breitbart News.
That was the guy yelling f*bombs around a bunch of kids and he wouldn’t shut up and leave. He deserved to get his a** kicked.
Note the press coverage of this vs. 2008 Obama. No shots of the crowd. Only shots of Trump are when his mouth is open. Seek out the one or two kooks like they did with the Tea Party. Focus on the one or two (paid) protesters. Total PRAVDA treatment.