CNN reporter’s family getting dozens of harassing calls over Reddit report

The family of a CNN reporter who wrote a story about the Reddit user who created a video of President Trump attacking CNN has been inundated with harassing phone calls, The Daily Beast reported Thursday.

Andrew Kaczynski, who leads CNN’s investigative K-File unit, drew backlash for a story where he appeared to warn that he may reveal the personal information of Reddit user HanAssholeSolo, who created the video showing Trump attacking CNN’s logo in a pro wrestling match.

Kaczynski’s parents and wife have gotten about 50 harassing phone calls, the report said.

Other members of the K-File team also reportedly had messages left at their homes about the story.

{mosads}“The only thing I worry about is somebody getting hurt,” a CNN insider told The Daily Beast. “These far-right trolls are really threatening people and coming after people. Somebody’s gonna do something stupid at some point.”

Kaczynski declined to publish the user’s name in the story but wrote that CNN “reserved the right” to release his identity if he makes any more anti-Semitic or racist posts. That statement drew backlash and accusations of CNN and Kaczynski blackmailing the user.

CNN said in a statement Wednesday that the network was not threatening a 15-year-old boy in the story, as some reports suggested.

“CNN decided not to publish the name of the Reddit user out of concern for his safety,” a CNN spokesman told The Hill. “Any assertion that the network blackmailed or coerced him is false. The user, who is an adult male, not a 15-year-old boy, apologized and deleted his account before ever speaking with our reporter.”

Trump has made CNN a top target in recent weeks, tweeting that he would start calling CNN “the Fraud News Network” on top of tweeting out the video of himself attacking CNN.

His comments came after CNN retracted a story tying top Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci to a Kremlin investment fund, leading to tighter regulations over the network’s Russian coverage and the resignations of three staffers involved in the story’s publication.

Trump administration staffers also considered using the merger between AT&T and CNN’s parent company, Time Warner, as a point of leverage against the news network, The New York Times reported.

CNN President Jeff Zucker told The Times that Trump “is trying to bully us.”

“My job is to remind everyone that they need to stay focused doing their job,” Zucker told The Times. “He’s trying to bully us, and we’re not going to let him intimidate us. You can’t lose your confidence and let that change the way you conduct yourselves.”