Cable News Play-by-Play of the Trump Tower Climber

By Chris Ariens 

New York news stations and the national cable news networks have been providing on and off live coverage of a man scaling Trump Tower using suction cups. “He’s cleaning the windows as he goes to get a good grip,” ABC 7’s Jim Dolan reported during WABC’s coverage.

The man started his climb around 2:45 p.m. News crews arrived around 4:00 and by 5:45 he’d made it to the 18th floor. He’s been talking to police who, at one point, broke through a window to try and coax him in.

Fox News provided the earliest and most-sustained network coverage anchored by Shepard Smith. Smith broke in around 4:39 p.m. and continued into The Five. At one point The Five’s Greg Gutfeld wondered if the climber was on a mission to pre-empt the Fox News show’s planned segment on Hillary Clinton’s emails.

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Later, Gutfeld left his studio on the ground floor and hand-delivered an iced coffee with “two equals and a little milk” to Smith who was on the Fox News Deck on the 12th floor.

Jake Tapper first reported the news around 4:45 on CNN, and Wolf Blitzer picked up in the 5 p.m. Following Olympics coverage on MSNBC, Chuck Todd reported the news around 5:30 p.m. Donald Trump is not in the building. He’s campaigning in Virginia.

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