CNN New Day addressed the Congressional testimony of Robert Mueller by focusing less on the somewhat doddering mien of the now-former Special Counsel, instead reiterating the many rather stunning details either revealed or confirmed by Wednesday’s hearings.
While many in the media have focused on what was seen as “bad optics” from the hearings because Mueller hemmed, hawed and appeared to not be on the top of his game (or even have a fluent understanding of the report filed under his name) the hosts and paneled pundits on New Day focused on material details.
Host Alisyn Camerota opened by listing detail heard during the hearing:
President Trump welcomed Russian interference and lied about it. Generally, Mr. Trump’s written answers to the Special Counsel were untruthful. Trump encouraged WikiLeaks and that was problematic. Trump was not exonerated of obstruction of justice. Robert Mueller fears accepting foreign help in our political campaigns is our new normal. And he, himself was not seeking the job as the new FBI director as President Trump has falsely claimed, and so obviously, those are unacceptable for presidents or anyone. You can’t lie to prosecutors.
What followed was an entirely reasonable and well-informed discussion on the substance of revelations and confirmations that came out of the Mueller hearing, featuring CNN regulars like Laura Coates, Kaitlyn Collins, Joe Lockhart and Elie Honig.
Each spoke about how the White House, President Donald Trump and his GOP Congressional supporters are “gleeful” because they won “the optics” Wednesday, though the lasting impression will be the specifics listed by Camerota above.
Lockhart finished this portion of the segment by “the idea that his written answers were not truthful is news,” before correctly noting that “partisans have made up their mind.” The former Press Secretary under President Bill Clinton (during his impeachment ordeal), added that he believed that “as the dust settles…the Trump people will be a little more sanguine.”
He added, “This was not a win yesterday for Trump.”
Watch above via CNN.
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