The controversy over a Justice Department sentence recommendation for Trump associate Roger Stone doesn't carry a lot of weight -- it's merely a recommendation that a judge can ignore. But CNN treats everything in the Trump orbit as a grave crisis. On Wednesday's CNN Newsroom, the Stone sentencing scandal was somehow worse than Watergate!
Towards the end of a segment on the controversy, co-host Jim Sciutto asked CNN senior political analyst David Gergen to explain the seriousness of the situation, "You just made a comparison to the Nixon administration and said this may be worse. Just explain to folks at home, and I know some of them are listening to these stories and saying 'it's just politics, how can I tell who's in the wrong and who's in the right.' Why is this different?"
After Gergen hyped an upcoming CNN documentary on Watergate, he compared Watergate with the controversy over Stone's sentence. "One of the first things the Nixon people had to do in covering up Watergate was to compromise the Justice Department and make sure they were under their thumb." Except, what is the cover up? Top DOJ officials have been quite clear that they thought seven to nine years was excessive.
But comparing the request for a lesser sentence to Watergate was not enough. Gergen then said that the Stone controversy is worse, "but it was sort of a one-time thing to cover up a particular episode. This is wide in scope. It's almost every big decision that's coming through the Justice Department now has to be sent through the White House and check out with the president and then do what the president -- do the president's bidding. We've never -- we didn't see that in Watergate. This is why this is more sinister."
During a segment comparing the Stone controversy to Watergate, the "Facts First" network did not take the time to report that the decision to seek a reduced sentence reportedly came before Trump's tweet on the matter and that there is a possibility that the prosecutors' brief to the department did not match with the original 7-9 year reqest.
Here is a transcript for the February 12 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
10:39 AM ET
JIM SCIUTTO: David Gergen, you served so many administrations, Republican and Democrat, you just made a comparison to the Nixon administration and said this may be worse. Just explain to folks at home, and I know some of them are listening to these stories and saying “it's just politics, how can I tell who's in the wrong and who's in the right.” Why is this different?
DAVID GERGEN: Well, people can watch the-- CNN has a special coming up this weekend, doesn't it, about—POPPY HARLOW: The White House. Yeah
GERGEN: John Mitchell and the Department of Justice? And one of the first things the Nixon people had to do in covering up Watergate was to compromise the Justice Department and make sure they were under their thumb, just as they tried to compromise the intelligence and the FBI. And -- but it was sort of a one-time thing to cover up a particular episode. This is wide in scope. It's almost every big decision that's coming through the Justice Department now has to be sent through the White House and check out with the president and then do what the president -- do the president's bidding. We've never -- we didn't see that in Watergate. This is why this is more sinister.
