House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) — who was seriously wounded last year by a gunman who supported Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders’ progressive politics — called on the New York Times to remove a short story about an assassination attempt on President Donald Trump it published earlier this week.
“The media needs to take accountability for the role they are playing in promoting dangerous rhetoric and division in this country, particularly against President Trump and his supporters,” Scalise said in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The decision by The New York Times to run this piece is irresponsible and offensive, and they should remove it and apologize.”
Zoe Sharp’s short story “How It Ends” is about a Russian who tries to assassinate Trump when his gun misfires. But a Secret Service agent steps in and offers the hit man his own gun: “‘Here,’ the agent said politely. ‘Use mine. …’”
“This is a bad faith inquiry, part of an attempt to manufacture a story,” a Times spokesperson said in response to Scalise’s statement directed at the paper, the Daily Caller said. “It’s very clear what this is: a work of fiction, commissioned by editors of the Book Review as part of a package of five stories penned by a range of spy and crime novelists — in the Halloween edition.”- READ MORE