With George Zimmerman back in the news -- this time for facing charges stemming from allegedly pointing a shotgun at his girlfriend -- CNN and its sister network HLN are once again inviting a virulently racist convicted criminal on-air to defend Zimmerman.

In August, Mother Jones reported that Frank Taaffe, who had essentially served as Zimmerman's “de facto spokesman” during his trial for killing Trayvon Martin, was “a racist with a criminal past.” Among Taaffe's lowlights: hosting a “white-power podcast”; posting racist tweets, including declaring that “the only time a black life is validated is when a white person kills them”; and having been repeatedly arrested (but not convicted) on stalking and domestic violence charges and once serving jail time for trespassing.

A Media Matters review at the time found that Taaffe's media presence was massive, having appeared on or been quoted by most major news networks, including making more than 60 (often combative) primetime appearances on HLN. As Mother Jones explained, Taaffe used his prominent media platform “to cast Martin as a drug-addled Hoodlum and Zimmerman as a community-minded do-gooder” and argue about technical details of the case in which he had no expertise.

But now that Zimmerman is back in the news, so is Taaffe. Mother Jones noted that Taaffe has appeared on both CNN and HLN this week to defend Zimmerman and argue with Nancy Grace about his friend supposedly “being oppressed by the press”:

Most recently, Taaffe appeared on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight and argued that Zimmerman was suffering from post-traumatic stress. Morgan asked Taaffe what Zimmerman--who faces charges of aggravated assault with a weapon, domestic violence battery, and criminal mischief--was doing in a house full of guns. “Boys will have their toys,” Taaffe replied. He also called Zimmerman's girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, and his ex-wife, Shellie (who has alleged that Zimmerman threatened her and her father with a gun, too) “opportunistic.”

Taaffe also appeared on HLN's  Nancy Grace and Dr. Drew On Call. “George is being oppressed by the press,” he told an incredulous Grace, who asked: “So according to you, what is it? A conspiracy between the...the ATF officer, the girlfriend in 2006, the wife in September 2013, and me, I guess?” 

“No,” Taaffe said. “He's allying himself with these women that he shouldn't be with.”

According to a search of the Nexis database, Taaffe also made a handful of appearances on HLN in September after Zimmerman's estranged wife “called 911 to say Zimmerman punched his father-in-law in the nose and threatened to shoot him and his wife.” (Zimmerman was released without charges.)