CNN’s Chris Cuomo Shreds Senate GOP: They Made a ‘Faustian’ Bargain With Trump and ‘Surrendered’ Their Dignity to Him

CNN’s Chris Cuomo compared Senate Republicans and their alignment against President Donald Trump’s impeachment to a deal with the devil.

As Cuomo tracked the closing arguments of Trump’s impeachment trial on Monday, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins spoke to him about how Trump maintains the view that he did nothing wrong throughout the Ukraine scandal, even though it was the root of his impeachment. This led to Collins saying it’s “really hard to see” Trump accepting that his actions were wrong, even if several of his defenders in the Senate say his conduct was improper but not impeachable.

Collins noted Lamar Alexander’s (R-TN) insistence that Trump will realize his actions were a “mistake” and he won’t do it again, but Cuomo shut down that line of thinking from the senator.

“The president has absolutely learned a lesson,” Cuomo said, “And the lesson is he owns this party.”

“He has them in his hand, and when he squeezes his hand, they squeal. He knows he can do whatever he wants. He has more power than any president I’ve seen in my lifetime within his own party. He’s also right that it is a ‘hoax.’ Because the idea of finding things to be wrong and sitting as a senator on a tribunal where you’re supposed to be a tryer of the facts and not having witnesses is a hoax.”

As Cuomo invited his panel to weigh in, he concluded by decrying the “Faustian” behavior of the Senate GOP.

“I said it was Faustian. Faust made his deal with the Devil. He wanted everything now and would sell his soul later on. The crossroads here is the vote on witnesses. When you went bad on witnesses, you surrendered your dignity as a senator who was doing a job pointed by the Constitution.”

Laura Jarrett agreed by saying “the lesson that needed to be learned was not by the president of the United States,” and the Senate is rendering itself “impotent” by letting Trump off this way.

“The larger lesson is for the Republican members of the Senate,” she said. “At some point, those tables are going to turn, and at some point, everyone will have to pay the piper.”

Watch above, via CNN.

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