Having been busted for inserting the word “racial” before “profiling” and misquoting Donald Trump, the network is now blatantly defending making up a quote because “Donald Trump clearly meant racial profiling when he said profiling.” 

Kristine Marsh of Newsbusters chronicles the daylong disgrace, with CNN repeating the lie over and over, up to and including:

Erin Burnett Outfront was the worst example on CNN, where the host devoted nearly the whole hour to discussing Trump’s “racial profiling” comments that he never actually said.

Burnett began the show by stating twice, “Donald Trump defending a call for racial profiling” with a chyron that read, “Trump Says ‘Racial Profiling’ Will Stop Terror.”

Burnett then brought on two guests to discuss Trump’s comments, prefacing several questions with the loaded expression.

But it fell to Carol Costello to articulate the new standard of journalism at CNN.  Decide what you think someone means, and then quote him as saying what you think he really meant.  Be sure to use quotation marks.

But later Tuesday morning, CNN's Carol Costello  made it clear that the network's decision to insert “racial” into Trump’s quote was purposeful. In a discussion with Jeff Zeleny, Costello brought up the criticism and defended the addition of the word “racial” saying:

COSTELLO: And it's hard to not notice, Jeff, that Donald Trump again brought up the idea of profiling immigrants. I mean, yesterday he was upset that news people used the term racial profiling but he was on The O'Reilly Factor last night and Donald Trump clearly meant racial profiling when he said profiling.

ZELENY:  He did.