(JTA) — CNN’s Christiane Amanpour said she “regrets any pain” caused by her invoking the Kristallnacht pogroms in criticizing President Donald Trump, saying she “should not have” juxtaposed the two issues.
In the expression of regret Monday on “Amanpour,” the journalist said she mentioned the Kristallnacht pogroms on her show Thursday because last week was the 82nd anniversary of those events, which she said “began the horrors of the Holocaust.”
“I also noted President Trump’s attacks on history, facts, knowledge and truth. I should not have juxtaposed the two thoughts,” Amanpour said. “Hitler and his evils stand alone, of course, in history. I regret any pain my statement may have caused. My point was to say how democracy can potentially slip away, and how we must always zealously guard our democratic values.”
Here’s what Amanpour said Thursday on the show:
“This week 82 years ago, Kristallnacht happened. It was the Nazis’ warning shot across the bow of our human civilization that led to genocide against a whole identity, and in that tower of burning books, it led to an attack on fact, knowledge, history and truth. After four years of a modern-day assault on those same values by Donald Trump, the Biden-Harris team pledges a return to norms, including the truth.”
Among those who criticized the statement, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich wrote to CNN asking that Amanpour issue an “immediate and public apology” for the “unacceptable comparison.”
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