‘This Is Not a Drill’: CNN’s John Berman Blasts Trump for Considering ‘The Kind of Action You See in Dictatorships’

CNN’s John Berman sharply criticized President Donald Trump in reaction to reports that he was considering appointing attorney/conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell as special counsel.

Berman made the comments on AC360, guest hosting for Anderson Cooper.

“Let’s not mince words here,” said Berman during the show’s opening monologue. “This is not a drill. The President of the United States is weighing the kind of action you see in dictatorships.”

Berman mentioned reports that Powell had been seen visiting Trump at the White House three times recently.

“She’s the conspiracy theorist, you’ll recall, that was kicked off the president’s election team after making allegations too wild even for them,” Berman explained. “She now wants the president to order the federal seizure of voting machines in swing states,” and so does Michael Flynn, “the president’s fired national security adviser and pardoned admitted felon.”

Berman played a clip of Flynn calling for martial law and having the military seize voting machines and “basically rerun an election” in the swing states.

“Send in the troops, the retired three-star general says, and rerun the elections, essentially at gunpoint. In the case if you are wondering if he’s speaking hypothetically? He’s not,” Berman continued, noting that Flynn had also retweeted calls for martial law.

Berman then played a clip of former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) from Wolf Blitzer’s show Sunday, where Christie bluntly said that Powell and Flynn did not belong anywhere near the White House and were “not fit to be giving advice to anyone.”

Berman described the recent Oval Office meetings as “a cast of characters that, I suppose, is tempting to dismiss as some kind of pathetic clown show, complete with running grease paint,” referring to Rudy Giuliani’s bizarre press conference where what’s largely believed to be hair dye was running down his face. In addition to Powell and Flynn, Giuliani has called into these meetings by phone but is now feuding with Powell, “which makes the whole thing even more freakish.”

But it’s worse than just a freakish clown show, Berman argued, saying it was “scary” that the Trump administration was actually contemplating taking such extreme actions, that Trump was “obsessed” with scenarios for overturning the election, especially this idea of “naming Sidney Powell as some kind of election special counsel.”

“Again, remember, we’re talking about the same Sidney Powell that the president and his election legal team wanted nothing to do with just a few weeks ago because she was seen as too extreme. Now, in the president’s eyes, she’s special counsel material.”

As Berman noted, Attorney General William Barr said earlier today that he did not think that appointing a special counsel was appropriate, and so he wasn’t going to appoint one.

“Meaning that, as far as [Barr’s] concerned, the country is safe from a special counsel Powell,” said Berman, “that is, until he leaves office two days from now. That’s how much longer the center, such as it is, might hold on, on the special counsel front.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.