Michael Moore Shares Footage of Bomb Suspect Chanting “CNN Sucks” at Trump Rally

On Sunday, filmmaker Michael Moore shared unedited footage of Cesar Sayoc, the Florida man charged with sending pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and major news outlets, at a Trump rally in January 2017. At the time, Moore’s crew was shooting Fahrenheit 11/9, Moore’s most recent film, and although the footage didn’t make it into the final cut, it leaves a lasting impression now that America is familiar with Sayoc. In the unedited clip, Sayoc can be seen at multiple points holding signs denouncing the media, and he can be heard chanting “CNN sucks” as part of an angry crowd.

In an Instagram post, Moore shared a close-up photo of Sayoc, saying that his crew first met him at a “Trump 2020 Re-election rally” in Melbourne, Florida in January 2017. “My direction to my producer Basel Hamdan and our longtime collaborator Eric Weinrib was to NOT film Trump, but rather only film the people who came out to see him,” wrote Moore, “Who we needed to understand were our fellow Americans, lost souls full of anger and possible violence, easily fed a pile of lies so large and toxic that we wondered if there would ever be a chance that we could bring them back from the Dark Side.”

Moore went on to explain that he chose to share the unaired footage of Sayoc to give viewers “a momentary glimpse of him in action.” Wrote Moore, “Men, people like Cesar have been led to believe, were and are under attack by the likes of Hillary and Michelle and all those ‘feminazis’ who’ve had but one mission: political castration.” In the clip, the camera moves back and forth across the crowd, and Sayoc can be seen at the 0:42, 1:34, 1:44, and 3:15 mark above. “If you pause on him you will see something profound,” said Moore. “Fear in his eyes.”

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My crew first encountered Cesar Sayoc, the mail bomber/terrorist, 20 months ago when we went down to Melbourne, Florida, to film Trump’s first “Trump 2020 Re-election Rally” — just one month after his inauguration. My direction to my producer Basel Hamdan and our longtime collaborator Eric Weinrib was to NOT film Trump, but rather only film the people who came out to see him. My feeling was, after one month in office, we didn’t need to hear anything more from Trump’s mouth — we already knew everything we needed to know about him. Who we needed to understand were our fellow Americans, lost souls full of anger and possible violence, easily fed a pile of lies so large and toxic that we wondered if there would ever be a chance that we could bring them back from the Dark Side. Our footage of Mr. Sayoc would never make it into the final cut of what would be the film that is now in its last week in cinemas across America. But I’d like to share it with you, if only to give you a momentary glimpse of him in action (all are free to use this video and share it). You’ve seen the photos of him on the news over the past couple days– a slight, normal, everyday American. But those are from before. Here with our footage I can show you what he had actually become — overdosed on steroids in what looks like some desperate attempt to hang on to what was left of his manhood. Men, people like Cesar have been led to believe, were and are under attack by the likes of Hillary and Michelle and all those “feminazis” who’ve had but one mission: political castration. The theft of power from the patriarchy that had been in place for 10,000 years. The end of men…[1/3]

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Fahrenheit 11/9 is currently in theaters.