CNN contributor and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe ran down the list of similarities Wednesday between the recent Minnesota mass shooting and the 2023 Covenant School incident in Tennessee, leaving out one major detail. The shooters were both transgender, and both murdered Christians.
“There are remarkable similarities,” McCabe told CNN host Erica Hill. “Both were in their twenties, both targeted religious schools that they formerly attended. Both brought three weapons to the crime. Both purchased those weapons legally. Both drove to the attack site and left a vehicle there.”
“Both posted manifestos in which they raged, and expressed grievance towards numerous ethnic groups and religions,” McCabe continued.
“You know, a real broad stroke of kind of anger there,” he added. “Both sought to kill children, young children, specifically. And I think the most important here is both were students of other mass shooters.”
Andy McCabe notes “remarkable similarities” between Minneapolis & Nashville mass murderers — but can you guess which one he neglected? pic.twitter.com/36GNsUwESf
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 28, 2025
There wasn’t one mention of the fact that they were both transgender. Robin Westman, formerly Robert Westman, spoke about his experience of suffering with gender issues in his manifesto.
The Nashville shooter, Aiden Hale, formerly known as Audrey Hale, was transgender as well. She killed three adults and three elementary students at a Christian school and also touched upon transgenderism in her manifesto.
Westman lamented being “brain-washed” and wrote that he was “tired of being trans,” according to the New York Post.
Do you watch CNN?
“I only keep [the long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans. I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself,” he wrote.
The Post also reported that when Westman applied to change his name when he was 17, “The petition noted that Westman ‘identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.’”
Whatever your politics or beliefs, this is a glaring similarity.
One could almost be forgiven for thinking CNN left these details out on purpose, to satisfy a narrative and avoid making transgender individuals look bad.
McCabe was also careful not to point out that both schools were Christian.
He used words like “religious” and highlighted how they both went after children, yet the specific faith seemed unimportant to him.
Imagine if it were a different faith that CNN tends to support, like Islam. Would the reaction have been different?
When it came to supporting transgender ideology, however, network host Jake Tapper went out of his way on Wednesday to lecture viewers about respecting Westman’s pronouns.
While speaking with CNN correspondent Brian Todd, Tapper interrupted him to stress a correction.
“The Minneapolis Star Tribune says, according to court records, because there’s been some confusion about what the shooter’s name was. Robin Westman’s mother applied to change her child’s name in 2019. It was at one point Robert Paul Westman,” he said.
“Correct,” Todd replied. But Tapper wasn’t finished.
“But since she identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification — was underage, it’s now Robin Westman,” he added.
Todd hadn’t even mentioned gender identity during his report. Yet didn’t stop Tapper from forcing it into the segment.
Even in the midst of a national tragedy, outlets like CNN will bend reality as far as it can go if it protects those they celebrate and obfuscates those with whom they disagree.
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