Jake Tapper Ripped Into An ‘Absolutely Heinous’ Donald Trump Celebrating That A Journalist Was Shot By Rubber Bullets

Donald Trump’s long history of comments critical of various journalists in the United States took a much more inflammatory tone on Saturday when he celebrated that an MSNBC journalist was shot by police with rubber bullets while covering a peaceful protest earlier this year.

During a rally on Saturday, Trump spoke positively about an incident where police fired rubber bullets at MSNBC journalist Ali Velshi while the host of Velshi was covering peaceful protests.

https://twitter.com/davidgura/status/1307318498205425665

“He got hit on the knee with a canister of tear gas,” Trump said, though it was actually a rubber bullet fired by police. “Wasn’t it really a beautiful sight? It’s called law and order.”

The incident, which happened in May, has come up during Trump rallies before. You can see the attack captured on video below.

The comment drew cheers from the rally, but immediate condemnation online, especially from journalists and those working at MSNBC in particular. Velshi responded on Twitter on Saturday, asking what crimes he committed that deserved the “law and order” he’s describing.

Velshi also retweeted various criticisms of Trump’s comments and defenses of his own actions covering what was a peaceful protest before police opened fire. But perhaps the strongest words against Trump in this case came from Jake Tapper, who called Trump’s comments “absolutely heinous” and called on other journalists to condemn the president’s view on journalists covering peaceful protests.

“Anyone celebrating that violence has something wrong with them, and it’s twisted for anyone least of all a president to call it “law and order,”” Tapper wrote. “No journalist should find this acceptable.”

MSNBC also released a statement condemning Trump on Saturday, saying the president’s words “endangers thousands of other journalists and undermines their freedoms.