CNN’s Abby Phillip Confronts Ex-Trump Cabinet Member With Brutal Barrage of Anti-Trump Quotes
CNN anchor Abby Phillip roasted ex-President Donald Trump over how few of his cabinet members have endorsed him and confronted one of them with a barrage of brutal quotes.
On Wednesday night’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip interviewed former HUD Secretary Ben Carson about his recent endorsement of Trump, and pressed him to explain why so many of his fellow Trump cabinet members trash him:
PHILLIP: You can literally count them on one hand. Donald Trump served four years as president, routinely overseeing cabinet meeting like this one here, but all of those people who gathered around the table, the senior most members of the United States government under Trump, Ben Carson is one of the few who has actually committed to voting for him in 2024.
And joining me now is Dr. Ben Carson. He served as Housing and Urban Development Secretary during the Trump administration. Dr. Carson, thank you for being here.
As I just noted, you are one of the few former Trump cabinet members to publicly endorse him in this campaign. Most of your former colleagues in cabinet have either stayed on the sidelines, saying nothing at all, or they have said pretty loudly he is unfit to hold office again. So, why should that not be a red flag to the American people?
DR. BEN CARSON: Abby, thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here. There are a number of reasons. First of all, during President Trump’s time in office we had a booming economy. We had the lowest unemployment for many segments of our population. We were respected around the world, energy independence. Crime was treated with punishment. We had a secure southern border and people had hope for the future. They felt they were moving in the right direction. That’s one set of reasons.
The other set is much more substantial, and that is if the opponents of President Trump are allowed to weaponize the judicial system and the Department of Justice and our system of checks and balances in order to obliterate their political opponent, we will have lost something very important.
Benjamin Franklin came out —
PHILLIP: But again, I have to — but again, Dr. Carson, I have to ask you, I mean the question really is why aren’t there more people like you, who actually worked with, served under Donald Trump, who are willing to actually endorse him? I want to read some quotes from your former colleagues.
John Kelly says, “God help us at the thought of another Trump term.”
Mark Milley, “We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”
Mark Esper, “unfit for office.”
Dan Coats, “to him, a lie is not a lie.”
Gina Haspel, “a six-year-old with a tantrum,” is how she described her former boss. What are they seeing that you’re not seeing?
CARSON: I think the better question is what are they not saying? And they are not seeing the big picture. If, as I said, we allow our Justice department to be weaponized, we will have lost something very precious and important. We will become like a banana republic. And that is incredibly important. We would have lost the republic that Benjamin Franklin talked about.
Watch above via CNN NewsNight.
