A Sinclair report ignored a Trump supporter’s attack on an FBI building, while covering violent threats against the FBI

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published

A report from Sinclair Broadcast Group chief political correspondent Scott Thuman, which aired remarks from FBI Director Christopher Wray decrying threats against the FBI, failed to mention that an apparent Trump supporter carried out a violent attack against an FBI building that morning.

According to official statements, an armed man attacked an FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio, after 9 a.m. Thursday morning. He was chased by police, exchanged gunfire with them, refused to surrender, and was killed. Other news organizations reported that the suspect appeared to be an extremist Trump supporter who posted social media messages urging people to kill FBI personnel in reaction to its search of Mar-a-Lago. The suspect reportedly attended a pro-Trump rally the day before the Capitol insurrection and was even at the Capitol as it was attacked on January 6, 2021. (Conservative media, including Sinclair, have been pushing baseless and incendiary criticism of the FBI following the search.)

Garland’s statement to the press, which was included in the Sinclair report, occurred hours after reports of the violent attack on the Cincinnati FBI building, calling into question why Thuman failed to include it given its direct relevance to the topic he was covering.

Thuman’s report, which according to a transcript search of the Kinetiq video database aired on at least 48 Sinclair-owned or -operated TV stations Thursday night and Friday morning, is below:

From an August 11, 2022, Sinclair Broadcast Group national segment

(VIDEO BEGINS)

MERRICK GARLAND (U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL): I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter. Second, the department does not take such a decision lightly. More information will be made available in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time.

(VIDEO ENDS)

SCOTT THUMAN (SINCLAIR CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT): Highly anticipated but still limited, an explanation from Attorney General Merrick Garland as to the FBI search of former President Trump's home, just as new questions emerge. Was it someone inside Mar-A-Lago and Trump's inner circle who tipped off the FBI as to what documents the former president may have illegally kept and even where in the house to find them?

…

THUMAN: Also there's a continued flurry of Republican pushback here on the Hill. Lawmakers like Jim Jordan of Ohio demanding that a normally quiet FBI director come explain. Meanwhile, threats from Trump supporters against the FBI increasing.

(VIDEO BEGINS)

CHRISTOPHER WRAY (FBI DIRECTOR): Again, violence against law enforcement is not the answer no matter what anybody’s upset about, or who they’re upset with.

(VIDEO ENDS)