As NewsBusters has found, the liberal media were on the side of violent crime and murder as they when from ignoring a cold-blooded act of murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zaruska on Charlotte, North Carolina light rail to making it a ‘Republicans pounce’ story. On Monday night’s On Balance, NewsNation host Leland Vittert unloaded on the liberal media for intentionally not giving Zaruska the same kind of attention they paid to drug addict George Floyd.
“America, is it a George Floyd moment. Not about policing, but about crime,” Vittert proclaimed at the top of his show. “That video remember five years Floyd’s death. It changed how we talked about policing. This video has every reason to change the way we talk about crime.”
Vittert singled out CNN chief media clown Brian Stelter for trying to make the case about racism rather than his Democratic Party love for criminals:
VITTERT: Many of you probably haven’t seen the video until now. The same legacy media outlets, that did wall-to-wall coverage of Floyd have largely ignored this story. And when they finally did talk about it this morning, it was to call anybody who cared was concerned about this story a racist.
[Cuts to video]
STELTER: I have to say some of the replies to Musk, some of the comments around the story are baldly racist, stoking fear of African Americans because this man attacked a white woman.
“An unarmed, innocent woman is killed on a train, and the real problem is racism. That worked five years ago. It does not work anymore,” Vittert denounced Stelter’s narrative.
Noting that the case was “about how a host of progressive policies keep letting the worst offenders back on the street until they commit crimes like this,” he called attention to how the far-left Democratic mayor of Charlotte, Vi Lyles thanked the media for aiding in her cover-up of the murder:
Coverage, or the lack of coverage of most of the major networks, shows the obvious bias and blindness by most media organizations to what Americans are actually scared about. If you’re scared about something, you care about. So in fact, the mayor of Charlotte praise media outlets for not showing the video. Of course, she doesn’t want you to see the video. Nor does she want you to see his criminal record.
“For Progressives and their friends in the media, they think that crime isn’t the criminals fault. Crime is somehow the fault of a racist country,” Vittert called out their lunacy.
Before pivoting to discussing the story with Bill O’Reilly, Vittert wrapped up his monologue with the fact that Gallup found that “75 percent of Americans ‘worry a great deal or a fair amount’ about crime. 67 percent of Americans were somewhat or very dissatisfied with the nation’s policies to reduce crime.”
“Right now, Americans feel like crime is spiraling out of control. And now we can finally have an honest conversation about it without being called racist,” he boasted.
The transcript is below. Click “expand” to read:
NewsNation’s On Balance
September 8, 2025
9:02:22 p.m. Eastern(…)
LELAND VITTERT: America, is it a George Floyd moment. Not about policing, but about crime. That video remember five years Floyd’s death. It changed how we talked about policing. This video has every reason to change the way we talk about crime.
Many of you probably haven’t seen the video until now. The same legacy media outlets, that did wall-to-wall coverage of Floyd have largely ignored this story. And when they finally did talk about it this morning, it was to call anybody who cared was concerned about this story a racist.
[Cuts to video]
BRIAN STELTER: I have to say some of the replies to Musk, some of the comments around the story are baldly racist, stoking fear of African Americans because this man attacked a white woman.
[Cuts back to live]
VITTERT: An unarmed, innocent woman is killed on a train, and the real problem is racism. That worked five years ago. It does not work anymore.
This story is as much about race as the George Floyd story was and is. Race is center here, center to this story. George Floyd the story was about how police treat black Americans. The Iryna Zaruska story is about the epidemic of black crime in America. More specifically, it is about how a host of progressive policies keep letting the worst offenders back on the street until they commit crimes like this.
Before we go any further, though, we want to tell you about Iryna. She escaped war-torn Ukraine and was settling up and setting up a better life for herself in America, in Charlotte. Her obituary described her as, quote, “gifted and passionate artist who had a deep love for animals.” Adding that she was “happiest when surrounded by family and loved ones.” Reportedly, she had a black lives matter poster in our house.
Think about that. She escaped war only to get murdered here in America. The irony. Somehow all those folks, who talk about Ukraine all the time aren’t talking about her now.
Coverage, or the lack of coverage of most of the major networks, shows the obvious bias and blindness by most media organizations to what Americans are actually scared about. If you’re scared about something, you care about. So in fact, the mayor of Charlotte praise media outlets for not showing the video. Of course, she doesn’t want you to see the video. Nor does she want you to see his criminal record.
He had 33 run-ins with the law dating back to 2007, 14 arrests, four of them for felonies. He recently served five years in prison for armed robbery but was let out early. Shortly after his release, he assaulted his own sister. He was let out after that.
But the mayor statement didn’t talk about that. She talked about meaning compassion for the alleged killer since he was homeless and had mental illness. Anybody who stabs a woman in the throat probably has mental illnesses.
But that’s the point. For Progressives and their friends in the media, they think that crime isn’t the criminals fault. Crime is somehow the fault of a racist country.
President Trump offered a much different reaction on Truth Social. He wrote, “The blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer’s knife. And now her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail.” Those comments came after he offered this earlier.
[Cuts to video]
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I just give my love and hope to the family of the young woman who was stabbed this morning or last night in Charlotte by a madman, a lunatic. Just got up and started – It’s right on the tape. Not really watchable because it’s so horrible. But just viciously stabbed. He’s just sitting there. So there’re evil people. We have to be able to handle that. If we don’t handle that, we don’t have a country.
[Cuts back to live]
VITTERT: North Carolina’s governor, Democrat appears to understand at least some of the optics of this story he wrote on X, “We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe. That’s why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well trained police officers.”
Here’s the thing. It is no longer about cops. And we know that because this guy was in jail. He had been arrested by cops but kept getting let out. So it’s not about cops. Governor, it’s about Democrats refusing to be honest about who is committing the crimes and the ways to stop it. Like ending cashless bail or early release, which likely left the alleged Charlotte killer out of jail 14 times.
Democratic politicians often point out the crime is down in most major cities. You can make statistics say whatever you want. Team Trump has already caught on to that. A Trump adviser told Axios this morning, “Crime is not a data thing. It’s a feeling thing. Politicians don’t understand that it’s about how you feel when you walk on the subway platform.”
Right now, Americans don’t feel safe. Gallup polling from March. 75 percent of Americans “worry a great deal or a fair amount” about crime. 67 percent of Americans were somewhat or very dissatisfied with the nation’s policies to reduce crime.
Right now, Americans feel like crime is spiraling out of control. And now we can finally have an honest conversation about it without being called racist.
(…)
