CNN Fires Commentator Jeffrey Lord For Tweeting ‘Sieg Heil’

CNN fired pro-Trump commentator Jeffrey Lord on Thursday after he tweeted the Nazi slogan “Sieg Heil” and mocked the liberal organization Media Matters as “fascist.”

“Nazi salutes are indefensible,” a cable spokesman said. “Jeffrey Lord is no longer with the network.”

Lord, who was an aide in the Reagan administration, has been a high-visibility pundit defending the Trump administration.

The contretemps kicked off after Lord accused Media Matters of receiving funding from financier George Soros, as part of a long-running Twitter battle with the group’s head, Angelo Carusone.

In a column for the American Spectator, Lord had called Media Matters “fascist.” In response to criticism from Carusone on Twitter, Lord responded with the Nazi slogan, meaning “hail victory.”

Sieg Heil!— Jeff Lord (@realJeffreyLord) August 10, 2017

Lord later claimed that he was “mocking Nazis and Fascists.”

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter, @DanielJSolomon