A CNN panel went wildly off the rails Monday night as one of the guests angrily chastised Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), accusing the congressman of lying on air.
Keith Boykin, a former White House aide to Bill Clinton, clashed with Donalds on NewsNight With Abby Phillip, alleging that Donalds was making false claims about crime increasing under President Joe Biden. The pair started trading barbs after watching a clip of Donald Trump calling for “one rough hour” to end crime.
Phillip asked Donalds if Trump was “suggesting that cops can do whatever they want for a day and that will actually solve the problem?”
“No, he’s not,” Donalds answered. “And even the clip you just played was five seconds out of, for Donald Trump, an hour speech. I think a lot of times people say, ‘Oh well, he said this.’ For five seconds? Yes, he says things that are unscripted, he goes off the cuff. He’s not serious. There’s no policy behind that.”
Boykin pushed back. “Donald Trump has a history of saying inflammatory things,” he said, addressing Donalds. “It’s not just those five seconds congressman, and you know that.”
The pair then started squabbling about violent rhetoric, with Boykin telling Donalds he wished the congressman would “have the courage to stand up to your dear leader and tell him when he’s doing wrong.” Donalds hit back by asking if they would talk about “the rhetoric directed at Donald Trump” in light of the two apparent assassination attempts he’s survived.
They clashed again soon after when Phillip asked Donalds how Trump’s call for a “rough hour” wasn’t violent rhetoric.
“We have to acknowledge the reality going on in every city in America,” Donalds said, with Boykin cutting in to say he wasn’t answering the question. “That is answering the question,” Donalds continued, “Because the reality in America—hold on Keith—the reality in America is that crime is massively up.”
At that point, Boykin’s patience snapped.
“Crime is not massively up!” Boykin yelled, thumping the table. “That’s a lie! You’re lying congressman! You’re lying!”
As Phillip tried to restore order, Boykin asked her: “Abby, why do you let this man lie on national television like this? This is not right. You are a liar, congressman!”
“You’re lying to the American people now!” Donalds hit back.
After cutting in, Phillip explained that the FBI had released data Monday “showing that crime is down this year for the first six months of the year.” The show also displayed a trend line showing violent crime falling from a peak in 2022—but Donalds continued to insist that crime has increased “since the pandemic to this current point.”
They proceeded to argue about how to interpret the data. “I’m not gonna sit here and let this man lie all night on television,” an exasperated Boykin said at one point in the exchange.
