‘No Rick, That’s an Unfair Equivalency’: CNN’s Jim Sciutto Calls Out Santorum for Invoking Mueller Probe to Defend Trump Silence on Russia Hack
CNN’s Jim Sciutto called out Rick Santorum for engaging in false equivalency, when the former Pennsylvania GOP senator tried to excuse President Donald Trump’s silence on the alleged Russia hack and intentional obstruction of the Biden transition team by bringing up Trump’s anger over the federal investigation into Russian election interference on behalf of his 2016 campaign.
During a Monday night discussion, Anderson Cooper 360 guest host Sciutto brought up to Santorum and co-panelist Paul Begala the numerous consequential events that have happened in recent days, of which Trump appears completely disengaged as he obsesses over the 2020 election he lost. The CNN host recounted the massive cyber espionage breach allegedly conducted by Russia, the suicide bombing in Nashville on Christmas day, and Monday’s report that Trump’s political appointees at the Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget are throwing up “roadblocks” to the Biden national security transition team.
“For Trump and his appointees at the Defense Department to be putting up roadblocks to President-Elect Biden being able to protect our country is really, really unconscionable,” Begala said. “I guess, you know, I’ve come to expect the worst from Trump, but it’s even been worse than I expected.”
“What’s your answer to that?” Sciutto asked, turning to Santorum. “It is a subject of bipartisan agreement, right, that Russia does not have America’s best interests at heart? That China does not. That terror attacks or violent attacks on American soil are not in America’s interest, an obvious statement. You don’t have the president getting out in front of this and saying definitively ‘This will not stand.’ Do Republicans agree this is dereliction?”
Santorum began by excusing Trump’s full retreat into pushing election conspiracy theories by saying: “I think the president is in a transition himself and I think he’s very clearly transitioned away from the day-to-day, you know, speaking out on issues.” The former GOP senator then was quick to point out that the Trump administration is still functioning and, as proof, absurdly cited the local field FBI agents in Nashville, who quickly tracked down the identity of the Christmas day suicide bomber.
“It is just the president is not doing what we are used to, which is commenting on every thing every moment of the day and he seems to be fixated on one thing that is this election,” Santorum continued. “Look, I understand the president looks at what happens to him four years ago and the prior administration investigating him and many people protesting and denying his winning of the election…”
“Yeah, but no, no Rick, that’s an unfair equivalency,” Sciutto broke in, pointing to two obvious examples contradicting Santorum’s premise. “President [Barack] Obama invited him into the White House and Hillary Clinton conceded the election.”
“Understood,” Santorum conceded, before asserting that Trump’s unprecedented refusal to concede was driven by political spite. “The president views this as, I think, I could be wrong, the president views this as the other side getting a little bit of their own medicine denying the legitimacy of his election. This is part of the president’s grievances of what happened to him and this is coming forward at a time you would expect it, to be honest with you.”
Sciutto then closed the segment by noting that the Mueller probe resulted in numerous investigations and guilty pleas and that it also found numerous instances of obstruction of justice by Trump, but did not have the authority to bring charges against a sitting president.
Watch the video above, via CNN.
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