St. Louis man seen pointing gun at protesters butts heads with Chris Cuomo
Mark McCloskey, the man who, along with wife Patricia, was seen holding a gun as protesters passed by his St. Louis home in a gated community Sunday night, appeared on Cuomo Prime Time on Tuesday in an interview that quickly devolved into a contentious butting of heads. In fact, it began with Cuomo’s first question.
“How do you feel about becoming the face of political resistance to the Black Lives Matter movement?” Cuomo asked. “First of all, that’s a completely ridiculous statement,” McCloskey answered. “I am not the face of anything opposing the Black Lives Matter movement.”
McCloskey, a personal injury attorney, went on to say that he took the actions he did because he feared the approaching crowd.
“I was a person scared for my life who was protecting my wife, my home, my hearth, my livelihood,” McCloskey said. “I was a victim of a mob that came through the gate. I didn’t care what color they were. I didn’t care what their motivation was. I was frightened. I was assaulted.”
But Cuomo pressed McCloskey on whether or not his actions were warranted.
“You were the one pointing a loaded weapon at a group of people who were walking past looking for the mayor’s house as a point of protest,” Cuomo said. “Chris, that’s an entirely false concept,” McCloskey responded. “No single media outlet has ever mentioned the complete falsity of that statement.”
McCloskey had appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News less than an hour earlier in a much less combative interview, and McCloskey let Cuomo know how he felt about coming on his show.
“I was reluctant to come on your show for a similar reason,” McClosky told Cuomo, who took the opportunity to make clear what he thinks about Carlson.
“You said, ‘I didn’t want to come on your show.’ Listen, I think I’m fair,” Cuomo said. “I’m not gonna use you as a pawn to advance my own agenda like the show you just went on, which is where somebody wants people to see Black Lives Matter as inimical to the American cause. I don’t make those kinds of judgements for people.”
On Monday, President Trump retweeted video of McCloskey and his wife. The reason Trump chose to do so was the main point of contention between McCloskey and Cuomo.
“He retweeted it because he liked the image of white resistance to this movement,” Cuomo said. “And I’m not saying that was fair to you, but we know that’s why he did it because that’s why he deleted it. I wanted you to speak for yourself.” “Well, I’m glad you’re a mind reader because no one else thinks you are,” McCloskey replied. “Oh, in fact he didn’t delete it,” Cuomo said, correcting himself. “Good. Makes my point even more.”
McCloskey’s lawyer, Albert Watkins, weighed in a few times throughout the interview, but wasn’t much of a help, especially when it came to Trump’s intentions.
“I’m not going to speak for the president,” Watkins said. “In fact, quite frankly, I find it probably an impossibility for anyone to speak for the president. And that’s assuming one wants to say the president speaks.” A perplexed Cuomo replied, “I don’t even know what the hell you’re talking about.”
Cuomo Prime Time airs weeknights at 9 p.m. on CNN.
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