CNN's Don Lemon Blasts Frank Gaffney And The Poll Trump Cited To Legitimize His Ban On Muslims Entering The US

Lemon: Your Poll “Doesn't Meet The Standards Of Any News Network”

From the December 8 edition of CNN's CNN Tonight:

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DON LEMON (HOST): Do you agree with Donald Trump's statement that there has to be a total and complete shutdown of the Muslims entering the United States?

FRANK GAFFNEY: Well, let me put my viewpoint forward, I think that we have enough jihadists in America at the moment, plenty actually, and too many, and the idea of importing still more willy-nilly seems to me to make no sense at all. What exactly one does, and for how long one does it in order to try to ascertain when more people who are coming from the nations notably those that have a tradition of Islamic supremacism and, in some cases, jihad - seeking to impose a doctrine they call Sharia on the rest of us - whether you can discriminate between those who are actually bent on engaging in jihad - either the violent kind or, by the way, a kind that the Muslim Brotherhood calls “civilization jihad,” a sort of stealthy kind of jihad, rather than the people who are just seeking to come here for a better life or economic opportunity or --

LEMON: That sounds like a de facto agreement with Donald Trump.

GAFFNEY: Well, I think there are points on which we agree. The main point is, I think virtually every American thinks we should not be willy-nilly importing more jihadists into this country.

[...]

LEMON: I want to talk about your poll--

GAFFNEY: It was a legitimate, scientifically done poll, and I suggest that suggesting otherwise is nonsense.

LEMON: It was a poll that was conducted online and it doesn't meet the standards of any news network.

GAFFNEY: It is the standard that is applied whenever pollsters, including those used by this network, are trying to sample small populations, and particularly populations that are concerned about answering questions. It is a way that respectfully does it, and I think it does it accurately.

LEMON: It doesn't - with all due respect, it doesn't--

GAFFNEY: It does. It is the industry standard, sir. You don't know what you're talking about.

LEMON: Yes I do, it doesn't meet the guideline of our network--

GAFFNEY: You don't know what you're talking about, Kellyanne Conway was the pollster. You work here, but that doesn't mean you know a damn thing about polling more than your colleague does about me.

LEMON: I work here, we would not put that poll on the air because it does not meet CNN standards.

Previously

CNN Commentator: Saying Trump Incites Terrorists Is Like Saying Martin Luther King Encouraged Segregationists

NBC Veteran Journalist Tom Brokaw Blasts Trump's “Dangerous Proposal” To Ban Muslims

On Fox, Donald Trump Claims He Will Shut Down All Muslim Immigration To US For “The Safety Of Our Country”