CNN Newsroom's Jim Sciutto continued CNN's feud with Arizona Senator Martha McSally on Friday by inviting former GOP Senator and Clinton Secretary of Defense William Cohen to comment on the incident with CNN's Manu Raju.
After talking about whether or not Republican senators should support calling witnesses at the impeachment trial, Sciutto moved to McSally and her supposedly undignified behavior, Thursday. After refusing to play the clip of McSally and Manu Raju, because it would be "gratuitous," Sciutto described the events as "Martha McSally attacking my colleague."
He condemned her for "immediately attempting to fund-raise off of it," as if CNN hasn't also tried to spin this event for their own purposes, in ways they would never do so if it was a Democrat. Sciutto then asked Cohen, "You served in the House and the Senate as a Republican, when you see that kind of language, that kind of vitriol, what is your reaction?"
Cohen, being the good cable news Republican, found a way to blame this on President Trump:
Comes from the top. The President sets the tone and he has systematically used demeaning language, inflammatory language, degrading people, calling them names, suggesting you are an enemy of the state, you are unpatriotic, you are someone who hates America, so when you have the President of the United States saying that, it filters down to those who support him.
He would add while it may play well with the conservative base in Arizona, it does not reflect well on someone who is supposed to be a public servant.
If Sciutto and Cohen honestly think Trump calling reporters names is the reason why conservatives don't like the media, then they better be prepared to be disappointed when Trump leaves, because nothing happens in a vacuum.
Here is a transcript from the January 17 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
1/17/2020
10:34 AM EST
JIM SCIUTTO: We’ll see. I'm actually not going to play this again, because I think it is just -- it is just gratuitous. But you may have seen Republican Senator Martha McSally attacking my colleague. And immediately attempting to fund-raise off of it. You served in the House and the Senate as a Republican, when you see that kind of language, that kind of vitriol, what is your reaction?
WILLIAM COHEN: Comes from the top. The president sets the tone and he has systematically used demeaning language, inflammatory language, degrading people, calling them names, suggesting you are an enemy of the state, you are unpatriotic, you are someone who hates America, so when you have the President of the United States saying that, it filters down to those who support him. Saying the president can say it, I can say it, and I will say it. It may play well back in Arizona, may play well with the conservative base, to me it doesn't play well as far as civil service, public service, and being a trustee and a fiduciary of the American people.
