As impeachment frenzy sweeps the media, it has become clear that both sides are using the transcript of the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as their key piece of evidence to make their respective arguments. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle naturally did the same on Tuesday before the day's events on Capitol Hill got underway, citing the transcript as proof that Trump is a lying liar who lies all the time, but it was they who were the ones spreading misinformation.
Scarborough began by claiming it is, "Remarkable that he thought he could lie about the call, they could put out an incomplete transcript, and could lie his way through it." He then declared that 70 percent of Americans "think that it is wrong that Donald Trump used his position to hold up military aide for a democratic ally invaded by Vladimir Putin for his own political gain." Scarborough cherry picked his polling data, because support for impeachment, is nowhere near 70% and has in fact, gone down over the past couple of days since public testimony began.
Barnicle, who has a complicated relationship with the truth himself, naturally concurred, "To the point you just raised, isn't it remarkable that President Trump thought he could get away with lying like that. Joe, he has paid no price for his entire life for his lies. He’s President of the United States today, he has not paid a price for his lies."
Remember, this is the same Mike Barnicle who was forced out at the Boston Globe after it became clear that he had “fabricated” a story about a child dying of cancer. So Barnicle knows a thing or two about not telling the truth.
Here is a transcript for the November 19 show:
MSNBC
MSNBC Impeachment Coverage
9:06 AM ET
JOE SCARBOROUGH: And how remarkable that he thought he could lie about the call, they could put out an incomplete transcript, and could lie his way through it, what is so fascinating as we're awaiting key witnesses for the third day of public testimony, let's just frame it, 70% of Americans, as we reported earlier this morning, 70% of Americans think that it is wrong that Donald Trump used his position to hold up military aide for a democratic ally invaded by Vladimir Putin for his own political gain.
MIKE BARNICLE: To the point you just raised, isn't it remarkable that President Trump thought he could get away with lying like that. Joe, he has paid no price for his entire life for his lies. He’s President of the United States today, he has not paid a price for his lies.
SCARBOROUGH: If I could push back just a little bit, this hearing is not going to be run by Intel Chairman Devin Nunes, it is going to be run by Adam Schiff because actually Republicans did pay a pretty stiff price for the lies for the first two years of the Trump Administration. Again, it bears repeating, that it was a historic landslide, if you look at vote total, Donald Trump's Republican Party lost by a greater tally in last year’s midterm election than anyone else in the history of the United States.
