CBS on Tuesday and Wednesday showed scant interest in the father of a mass murdering terrorist sitting directly behind Hillary Clinton at a rally in Florida. But when a disgraced former Republican Congressman sat behind Donald Trump, the network’s journalists perked up. CBS This Morning reporters on Thursday hyped the “controversial” Mark Foley, whose appearance made Trump’s Seddique Mateen critique “backfire.”

Guest co-host Dana Jacobson taunted, “And [Trump] highlighted a controversial face in the crowd at a recent Clinton rally. But then, a disgraced former Congressman — and Trump supporter — stole some of the spotlight.” Reporter Major Garrett derided, “But when Trump shifted to another attack, it backfired.”

After Garrett played a clip of the elder Mateen appearing at a Clinton rally on Monday, Garrett dismissed, “But Trump had an unexpected supporter of his own, disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley.”

Foley resigned from Congress in 2006 after sending sexually explicit texts to teenage pages. The journalists at CBS This Morning spent two minutes and nine seconds on this. On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, however, the network allowed a combined 59 seconds to Mateeen’s appearance at a Clinton rally.

In contrast, the network scolded Trump for his “Second Amendment people” remark for 14 minutes and 24 seconds. This was a disparity of fourteen to one.

On Thursday, Garrett explained all the details of Foley’s transgressions:

GARRETT: Foley resigned from Congress in 2006 after admitting he sent sexually explicit e-mails and text messages to teenage boys who were at the time, or had been, House pages. That scandal contributed to House Republicans losing their majority in that campaign. This campaign year, Foley has appeared at previous Trump events here in Florida and spoken favorably of the billionaire real estate developer turned politician.

Yet, on Tuesday and Wednesday, after Clinton was caught sitting feet away from the father of a mass murderer, CBS avoided mentioning that the killer’s dad said “God will punish those involved in homosexuality.” His son, Omar Mateen, slaughtered 49 people at a gay night club.

For more, see a Media Research Center study on coverage of Mr. Mateen at Clinton's rally.

A transcript of the CBS segment is below: