As liberal CNN commentators Bakari Sellers and Maria Cardona appeared as panel members on Tuesday's CNN Tonight to react to a report by CNN's Tom Foreman mostly recalling sexual assault victims who have made complaints about abuse by Bill and Hillary Clinton, both denied that Hillary had been caught laughing about successfully defending a child rapist in spite of the existence of an audio recording of just that.
And, in spite of the fact that Foreman's report dealt mostly with sexual assault victims, Sellers feebly began by trying to use the standard liberal argument that Hillary Clinton had the right to be angry at women who had "cheated" with her husband. Conservative CNN political commentator Kayleigh McEnany had the job of taking them both on with little assistance from other panel members, with Sellers and Cardona calling some of the charges against Hillary "not true" and "a lie."
At 11:41 p.m. ET, after Foreman's report, host Don Lemon suggested that Sellers had, in fact, seen Foreman's piece, and asked for his reaction. After beginning his response by rejoicing over it being the Clintons' 41st wedding anniversary, Sellers then pivoted to pretending the issue was about consensual adulterous affairs instead of sexual assault, even though he had allegedly seen the report. Sellers: "I just think it's the height of hypocrisy that people attempt to say that someone who got cheated on is somehow worse that the person who was the cheater."
After pretending that the Clinton misconduct only involved affairs, he then shamelessly applied the words "sexual assault" to Donald Trump as he added:
I think that one of the most amazing things is that people attempt to say or have the audacity to believe that they can tell Hillary Clinton how to treat or how she should feel about the women with whom her husband cheated with. I mean, that, for me, is just completely out of line. And the last thing is, this is just a deflection from Donald Trump's comments about sexual assault, which is what it was, and trying to move the ball further away from what we need to be talking about.
CNN notably ran a full report on the case last May which included some of the recordings of Hillary Clinton laughing and bragging about her part in the case.
McEnany then recalled some of the Clintons' behavior against sexual assault victims:
Where we cannot empathize [with] her and she has yet to take responsibility in that montage you just played is her role in making these women who had viable sexual assault claims feel less than what they were. By putting private investigators on them, there is a deposition from one of the private investigators saying I was hired by one of Hillary's lawyers to make this woman's life not good.
She soon added:
I can empathize with being cheated on. ... But it does not give you the right to demonize these women, nor does it give you the right to basically marginalize a 12-year-old victim, say she wanted this man to rape her, she had dreams of this man, and then go on to laugh about getting this "innocent" man off. That had nothing to do with Bill Clinton's infidelities. That had to do with her, and Kathy Shelton deserved better than that...
Sellers and Cardona both jumped in to dispute McEnany's account as "not true":
SELLERS: That's not true.
MCENANY: It is true. There's an audio tape. There's an audio tape.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So many of what you just said is not true.
MCENANY: There's an audio tape. Viewers, go listen to the audio tape.
After the conservative commentator recalled the audio recording of Hillary Clinton laughing about successfully defending a rapist, the liberal duo were in denial again, with Cardona calling the claim a "lie":
CARDONA: She did not laugh about it. She did not laugh about it, Kayleigh. That's not true. That is a lie. That is a lie.
SELLERS: Time out, time out. That is not true.
MCENANY: It is true.
CARDONA: No, it's not, Kayleigh.
The segment ended with McEnany and Cardona arguing over whether Hillary laughed about defending a rapist:
MCENANY: You certainly don't laugh about it on a radio show..
CARDONA: She did not laugh about it.
MCENANY: Yes, she did. Go look up the tape. You don't play it here, but go look up the tape.
CARDONA: That is a distortion of the truth.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Tuesday, October 11, CNN Tonight:
11:41 p.m. ET
DON LEMON: So, Bakari, I know you have a lot to say about the piece you just saw. What's your reaction?BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first and foremost, I think we need to recognize that today is Bill and Hillary Clintons' 41st anniversary. I mean, Hillary Clinton, she actually went through more than any woman should in the White House and held together a family while she had a young daughter. People tend to forget about that all the time.
And I just think it's the height of hypocrisy that people attempt to say that someone who got cheated on is somehow worse that the person who was the cheater. And in this case, I'm referring to Donald Trump. And then the second part, I think that one of the most amazing things is that people attempt to say or have the audacity to believe that they can tell Hillary Clinton how to treat or how she should feel about the women with whom her husband cheated with. I mean, that, for me, is just completely out of line. And the last thing is, this is just a deflection from Donald Trump's comments about sexual assault, which is what it was, and trying to move the ball further away from what we need to be talking about.
LEMON: Bakari, in all fairness, Bill Clinton was a cheater, too, and admitted to it.
SELLERS: Oh, and, but not only that, not only did he admit to it, but when he was wrong, he got fined, he got impeached, there was an investigation. No one was ever saying that Bill Clinton was right in this situation. However, I want to know, who did -- did Hillary Clinton sleep with any of these women? I mean, did she allegedly rape any of these women? This is so amazing that we're talking about this, and Hillary Clinton went through more than any woman should, and she's still here standing strong.
(CNN's Maria Cardona recalls that Donald Trump spoke negatively of Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones in the 1990s)
LEMON: He did say disparaging things about the women, you know, in the past, and said, you know, that, I think he said that if they were better looking, maybe people would feel differently about it, and just, there are things like that.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, we can all empathize with Hillary Clinton being cheated on. That's not a good feeling. We can all empathize with her on that. Where we cannot empathize [with] her and she has yet to take responsibility in that montage you just played is her role in making these women who had viable sexual assault claims feel less than what they were. By putting private investigators on them, there is a deposition from one of the private investigators saying I was hired by one of Hillary's lawyers to make this woman's life not good.
She says she wants sexual assault survivors to be heard and believed. Well, you've got to live that in your personal life. I can empathize with being cheated on. That's a horrible thing. But it does not give you the right to demonize these women, nor does it give you the right to basically marginalize a 12-year-old victim, say she wanted this man to rape her, she had dreams of this man, and then go on to laugh about getting this "innocent" man off. That had nothing to do with Bill Clinton's infidelities. That had to do with her, and Kathy Shelton deserved better than that, and every woman in this country does.
SELLERS: That's not true.
MCENANY: It is true. There's an audio tape. There's an audio tape.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So many of what you just said is not true.
MCENANY: There's an audio tape. Viewers, go listen to the audio tape.
LEMON: But on the allegations, because these women are saying that they are not political pawns, but there are, to some of them, I'm not the judge and jury here, but even Kenneth Starr would not bring in testimony from Juanita Broaddrick-
CARDONA: Yeah, exactly.
LEMON: -because she changed her story so many times. Hillary Clinton was a public defender for one of the women, you know, and so-CARDONA: And she tried to get off that case, by the way. She didn't want to do that case, but there was a judge that had appointed her to it and she couldn't get out of it. She was doing her job, as she said previously.
MCENANY: And then she went -- no, and then she went on a radio show, then she went on a radio show -- every viewer on the show should go look this up on YouTube -- and laughed about getting the man off. Someone who doesn't want that case does not go on TV and laugh.
SELLERS: But she did not get the man off. She did not -- but that's not true. That's not true.
CARDONA: She did not laugh about it. She did not laugh about it, Kayleigh. That's not true. That is a lie. That is a lie.
SELLERS: Time out, time out. That is not true.
MCENANY: It is true.
CARDONA: No, it's not, Kayleigh.
SELLERS: First of all, first of all, fundamentally, fundamentally, this is what drives me crazy. And, Kayleigh, you're an attorney as well. There's this thing called the Constitution, and everyone, every single person who is charged with a crime has the right to defense. Period.
MCENANY: Of course. Of course. That's what I just-
SELLERS: So that's first and foremost, first and foremost. So she was on a rotating circuit and had to defend this individual. Second, the individual did not get off. It was a plea deal. And no one feels worse -- no one feels worse than all four of us and probably Hillary Clinton for that young girl having to go through the tragedy that she went through. No one's minimizing that. But what I am saying is that Hillary Clinton had a job to do and she did it. But also to go to this fact that we're talking about bringing these women up. And this is an awkward position to be in because I don't want to minimize anyone's claims of sexual abuse or sexual assault by any means at all. That is not the point of this. The point of this, though, is to say that people are being used for political props to prove a political purpose and score political points. This is not about somebody- (inaudible)
LEMON: The women are saying they're not pawns and they wanted their voices to be heard.
MCENANY: Exactly. And, Bakari, of course every defendant has a right to an attorney, but someone who reluctantly with a heavy conscience takes a case that they don't want to defend because they have an inclination the person's guilty, that attorney typically leaves that situation and doesn't feel good about-
SELLERS: That's not true. That is not true
MCENANY: No, wait, let me finish. I listened-
SELLERS: That's not true.
MCENANY: Please, you've got to let me finish, Bakari. I sat there the whole time very patiently. I hope viewers will listen to this tape where Hillary Clinton says verbatim, "My client took a lie detector test, which forever destroyed my faith in lie detectors," and she cackled. Kathy Shelton, her life is destroyed because of Hillary Clinton. And you don't go on and you don't laugh about it, and you take that case with a heavy heart. That is what every attorney should do.
CARDONA: That is so taken out of context.
LEMON: Quickly, Bakari, I got to go.
SELLERS: Let me welcome you to the legal profession because when you have a heavy heart, and you think someone may have a hint of guilt, you can't just kick that person to the curb.
MCENANY: You certainly don't laugh about it.
SELLERS: In your legal profession, you need to abide by the Constitution that the person has the right to a defense.
MCENANY: You certainly don't laugh about it on a radio show..
CARDONA: She did not laugh about it.
MCENANY: Yes, she did. Go look up the tape. You don't play it here, but go look up the tape.
CARDONA: That is a distortion of the truth.
