Don Lemon Blames Donald Trump For Death Threats Against CNN Staffers

Updated with NRA spokesperson response to Don Lemon broadcast: National Rifle Association spokesperson Dana Loesch on Wednesday responded to CNN primetime star Don Lemon’s Tuesday night program in which he blamed President Donald Trump for death threats made against CNN’s staff in Atlanta:

Lemon responded:

Previous: CNN primetime star Don Lemon blamed President Donald Trump on air for the death threats CNN staffers received earlier this month from a Michigan man.

CNN Worldwide chief Jeff Zucker said he would use his weekly staff-wide town hall on Thursday to address the threats for which Michigan resident Brandon Griesemer was arrested and later released on bond. Authorities report he called CNN 22 times this month and threatened to travel to Atlanta to “to gun you all down” at CNN’s facility there, calling the network “Fake News.”

“This is what happens when the President of the United States, Donald Trump, repeatedly attacks members of the press simply for reporting facts he does not like,” Lemon said on his Tuesday night program.

Saying he was speaking to an audience of one – Trump – Lemon added, “The caller who threatened to kill CNN employees made this threat using these words: ‘Fake News.’ I wonder where he got those words.”

“Some very dangerous people are listening to you,” Lemon told Trump, and noted for viewers that POTUS had, once again attacked CNN as “Fake News” just hours earlier:

The Washington Post has reported a former high school classmate of Griesemer says he declared in high school that he was a fan of Hitler, suggesting the Holocaust was exaggerated. Anthony Luongo who, like Griesemer, graduated high school last year, also described him as a Trump supporter.

A man who identified himself as Griesemer’s father told The Washington Post that his son “did not mean any of it,” and “did not know what he was saying, the seriousness of it” and that they are not gun owners.

FBI has accused Griesemer of placing the calls to CNN in early January, vowing to massacre the news operation’s Atlanta staff. Court docs show Griesemer also made “disparaging remarks regarding Jewish individuals” and, months earlier, called a local mosque to make “derogatory comments relating to the mosque and Muslims,” WaPo reported.

CNN has been Trump’s favorite media outlet to hate. Last week he named CNN recipient of four of his Fake News Awards – the most of any news outlet. Since taking office, Trump also has blasted the network on Twitter more than two dozen times – WaPo counted.

Not surprisingly, threats against the network’s personnel increased since the President of the United States began his campaign against CNN.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa7vgOsynSw&w=620&h=340]

Related stories

Donald Trump's Reality-TV White House Promises Big Immigration Plan Reveal On Monday's Episode

Oscar Host Jimmy Kimmel Looks At 2018's Historic Noms And Snubs

Conan Checks Out Haiti School In Wake Of Donald Trump's "Sh*thole" Review

Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter