Monday's New Day on CNN ran a pre-recorded report by correspondent Kyung Lah in which she highlighted two Japanese-American women who suffered through living in internment camps during World War II, and touted their concerns that Donald Trump "could make a dark moment in history a reality again," this time targeting Muslims.
And the report not only again used a misleading edited clip of incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn which made it look like he was calling all of Islam a "cancer," but the piece also employed a new misleading edit in the form of Trump supporter Carl Higbie appearing to argue in favor of treating Muslim-Americans the same as Japanese-Americans of the 1940s, which could easily be misconstrued as a call for internment camps. But, in other portions not shown by CNN, it could clearly be seen that he flatly argued against internment camps but for a registry that would only include immigrants.
Additionally, even though public opinion about minorities is vastly different in the U.S. now than it was in the 1940s, Lah at one point seemed to imply that "awareness" and "opposition to Washington" are the main differences today that would act as obstacles to such a plan.
Co-host Alisyn Camerota brought up the internment camp worries as she pivoted from announcing that the prime minister of Japan is planning a visit Pearl Harbor soon:
Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, now saying that he will visit Pearl Harbor in what will be the first visit from a leader of Japan since the start of World War II. Abe will go later this month with President Obama. This comes as Japanese-Americans are voicing concerns over another World War II scar. They think that Donald Trump's tough talk could make a dark moment in history a reality again. CNN's Kyung Lah has their story.
Lah's piece began with several edited clips of either Trump or his supporters:
CARL HIGBIE, TRUMP SUPPORTER, FROM FNC'S THE KELLY FILE: We did it during World War II with Japanese.
RETIRED LIEUTENANT GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR-DESIGNATE, CLIP #1: This is Islamism.
FLYNN CLIP #2: It is a vicious cancer.
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: -get the bad ones out.
The clip of Higbie came from the November 16, The Kelly File, on FNC, and, not shown by CNN, was that Higbie denied advocating for internment camps:
MEGYN KELLY: Kris Kobach, who helped write the tough immigration laws in Arizona, said today that Trump's policies advisors are drafting -- they're discussing drafting a proposal to re-instate a registry for immigrants from Muslim countries, for immigrants from Muslim countries.
CARL HIGBIE: Yeah, and to be perfectly honest, it is legal, and they say it will hold constitutional muster. I know the ACLU is going to challenge it, but I think it will pass, and we've done it with Iran back awhile ago. We did it during World War II with Japanese, which, you know, call it what you will, it may be wrong-
KELLY: Come on. You're not proposing that we go back to the days of internment camps, I hope.
HIGBIE: No, no, I'm not proposing that at all, Megyn.
And, as previously documented by NewsBusters, CNN has for several weeks used clips of Lieutenant General Flynn from two separate speeches appearing to call "Islam" or "Islamism" a "cancer" while omitting portions of the speeches when he specified "radical Islam" as the problem.
Back to the CNN New Day report, correspondent Lah relayed concerns of "history repeating" as she began: "You may call this 'heated political rhetoric. Pat Sakamoto sees history repeating."
After recalling the bad experiences of Pat Sakamoto and Joyce Okazaki, who were forceably kept in internment camps simply because of their Japanese ancestry, Lah continued:
LAH: The difference today, awareness, and a grassroots opposition to Washington.
SAKAMOTO: They never thought it could happen again. I just -- it's like unbelievable that it's happening. I'm more disappointed than angry, I think. In our country.
The CNN correspondent then concluded the report:
LAH: What's important for us to know today?
SAKAMOTO: You have to fight for your civil rights. You can't just sit back and say that I'll let that happen to me.
LAH: Their hope, that America's arc of the moral universe bends this time towards justice. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
Below is a complete transcript of the report from the Monday, December 5, New Day on CNN, followed by a transript of the relevant portion of the, Wednesday, November 16, The Kelly File on FNC:
#From the Monday, December 5, New Day on CNN:
8:42 a.m. ET
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, now saying that he will visit Pearl Harbor in what will be the first visit from a leader of Japan since the start of World War II. Abe will go later this month with President Obama. This comes as Japanese-Americans are voicing concerns over another World War II scar. They think that Donald Trump's tough talk could make a dark moment in history a reality again. CNN's Kyung Lah has their story.
CARL HIGBIE, TRUMP SUPPORTER, FROM FNC'S THE KELLY FILE: We did it during World War II with Japanese.
RETIRED LIEUTENANT GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR-DESIGNATE, CLIP #1: This is Islamism.
FLYNN CLIP #2: It is a vicious cancer.
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: -get the bad ones out.
KYUNG LAH: You may call this "heated political rhetoric." Pat Sakamoto sees history repeating.
PAT SAKAMOTO, MANZANAR INTERNMENT CAMP SURVIVOR: The same thing happened to us. It can happen to you. Sakamoto was born in Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp. An infant, one of 120,000 Japanese people ordered into captivity. Two-thirds of them, U.S. citizens. The attack on Pearl Harbor 75 years ago plunged the U.S. into war. President Roosevelt signed an executive order.
VOICE OF MALE NARRATOR FROM 1940S VIDEO: All persons of Japanese descent were required to register.
LAH: They lost their homes, businesses, and civil liberties.
VOICE OF MALE NARRATOR: The treatment of people who may have loyalties of an enemy nation.
LAH: What did Manzanar do to your mother?
SAKAMOTO: It actually broke up the family.
LAH: Her father left his wife and two daughters, refusing to sign a loyalty pledge to the country that imprisoned him. He was deported to Japan, a country that he never lived in.
LAH: He was a U.S. citizen.
SAKAMOTO: He was a U.S. citizen.
LAH: You never knew your biological father.
SAKAMOTO: No. My mother, because he made that decision to leave her, it broke her heart. And she would say, "There's nothing to remember."
JOYCE NAKAMURO OKAZAKI, MANZANAR SURVIVOR: If you got close to the fence, you would be shot, so don't go near the fence.
LAH: "Do not call this an internment, it was a prison camp," remembers Joyce Okazaki. She was seven years old in April 1942.
SAKAMOTO: It was because we were Japanese. We had Japanese ancestry.
LAH: That was your crime?
OKAZAKI: Yes, that was our crime. It took away our freedom, is what it did.
CLIP OF PROTESTERS: Donald Trump, go away! Racist, sexist, anti-gay!
LAH: The difference today, awareness, and a grassroots opposition to Washington.
SAKAMOTO: They never thought it could happen again. I just -- it's like unbelievable that it's happening. I'm more disappointed than angry, I think. In our country.
LAH: What's important for us to know today?
SAKAMOTO: You have to fight for your civil rights. You can't just sit back and say that I'll let that happen to me.
LAH: Their hope, that America's arc of the moral universe bends this time towards justice. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
#From the Wednesday, November 16, The Kelly File on FNC:
CARL HIGBIE: Being part of the Muslim faith is not a bad thing, and there's plenty, you know, there's 1.6 billion Muslims out there. Most of them are perfectly good people. But the fact is, there is a small percentage of people that have chose to align with an extreme ideology within the faith, and they are doing harm. So we would like to keep tabs on it until we can figure out what's going on. Trump has said, "Look, it's a regional-based thing now. If they're coming into our country, we need to know who they are, where they are, and what's going on."
MEGYN KELLY: He's trying to stop -- he's trying to stop immigration into the country from countries where there are major terrorist issues until we can figure out what's going on, but this seems like something else, which is, if you're coming over, I mean, is just, this is what I am reading, okay, this that, again, the secretary of state, Kris Kobach, who helped write the tough immigration laws in Arizona, said today that Trump's policies advisors are drafting -- they're discussing drafting a proposal to re-instate a registry for immigrants from Muslim countries, for immigrants from Muslim countries.
HIGBIE: Yeah, and to be perfectly honest, it is legal, and they say it will hold constitutional muster. I know the ACLU is going to challenge it, but I think it will pass, and we've done it with Iran back awhile ago. We did it during World War II with Japanese, which, you know, call it what you will, it may be wrong-
KELLY: Come on. You're not proposing that we go back to the days of internment camps, I hope.
HIGBIE: No, no, I'm not proposing that at all, Megyn.
