Tipsheet

'Stop the Tape!': Why Shepard Smith Refused to Air President Trump's Video Message

President Donald Trump posted a video on Twitter, calling on his supporters to stop the breach that was taking place at the United States Capitol. He shared the video on Twitter after politicians on both sides of the aisle asked him to come forward and condemn the violence that was taking place. 

CNBC host Shepard Smith aired part of the tape but abruptly cut from it.

"I know your pain. I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us," Trump said in the video. "It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now."

In the middle of the tape, Smith instructs producers to cut the tape.

"Stop! Stop the tape!" Smith said, pointing to the camera. "That is not true and we are not airing it."

In the remaining 45 seconds of the tape, Smith failed to show the president was encouraging his supporters to be peaceful and head home.

"We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law [enforcement]. We don't want anyone hurt. It's a very tough period of time. There's never been a time like this, where such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us, from me, from you, from our country," Trump explained.

Right after Trump tweeted the video message, Twitter prevented users from commenting or retweeting the video. They also placed a bright red warning on the bottom of the tweet.

“This claim of election fraud is disputed, and this Tweet can’t be replied to, Retweeted, or liked due to a risk of violence," the warning said.