GOP Rep. Comically Dodges Questions From CNN’s Manu Raju in Wild Clash: ‘If You Want to Interview Yourself, Go Right Ahead’
CNN aired a heated clash between correspondent Manu Raju and Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), Tuesday, which showed Amodei refusing to answer whether it was okay for President Donald Trump to ask foreign governments to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
“The substance of the things that have come out is that the president asked for a public investigation into his rivals and also Ukraine aid was being withheld,” Raju declared, prompting Amodei to respond, “Well, that’s your conclusion.”
“That’s not my conclusion. I’m saying that’s what’s come out,” Raju explained, to which Amodei replied, “Sounds like a conclusion to me, so we disagree on the question.”
After Raju questioned whether it was okay for Trump to withhold aid from Ukraine on the condition that they investigate the Bidens, Amodei attempted to dodge an answer, instead remarking, “The president has asked for the whistleblower complaint to go through the normal processes and we’ve seen nothing of that. So beyond that, when you say that you’ve made the conclusion, it’s like you’re a gifted guy because guess what, it isn’t over, and you already know what you think.”
“The White House transcript that was released had President Trump asking President Zelensky to open investigations into Biden,” Raju pointed out.
Continuing to dodge the question, Amodei started to ask questions of his own, like, “Do you know if they’ve even got plans to call the whistleblower? Because I heard they didn’t. Now I don’t know if that’s true…”
“You’re not answering my question about the substance of the allegation,” Raju shot back, with Amodei replying, “I disagree with your conclusion. It’s a conclusion, not a question.”
“I’m asking you about what’s in the White House transcript,” Raju proclaimed.
Amodei then became defensive, commenting, “My English teacher says you’ve got a conclusion, so if you wanna interview yourself, go right ahead. You’re interviewing me.”
The bizarre exchange continued:
Raju: “Why don’t you want to answer the question about is it okay for the president to ask a foreign country to investigate the Bidens.”
Amodei: “Why don’t you do an interview instead of interviewing yourself.”
Raju: “The president asked on the White House lawn…”
Amodei: “Will you answer my question?”
Raju: “The president asked them to investigate the Bidens. Is that okay?”
Amodei: “You know what, if you don’t want to interview me, then interview yourself.”
Raju: “I’m asking you a question.”
Amodei: “I don’t understand.”
Raju: “You don’t understand?”
Amodei: “Yeah. Thanks for doing the best you could.”
“So there you have it. Not answering a pretty straightforward question, whether or not it was okay for the White House, for the president to ask foreign governments to investigate his political rivals,” Raju declared after showing the interview on air. “And we’ve seen this time and again from Republican senators, Republican congressmen, not wanting to give a straightforward answer because, in a lot of member’s views, it’s not defensible for what the president did, and you saw that in that exchange with that Republican congressman.”
CNN Newsroom‘s Jim Sciutto chimed in: “You know, Sam Donaldson used to say, in reporting sort of lessons, he’d say if you ask someone, ‘Did you steal the money?’ and the answer is anything other than yes or no, then you’ve got a problem. It’s a simple question and you couldn’t get an answer.”
Watch above, via CNN.
