A solemn Don Lemon reacted to a Kailtin Collins interview of House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer on Tuesday’s CNN This Morning by lamenting that Republicans are “Citing uncredible sources like citing the New York Post” and “The American people are going to have to suffer through all of this stuff.”
“This stuff” was Lemon’s way of describing investigations into the Biden documents scandal and how it relates to influence peddling. Collins herself wasn’t too thrilled with the idea:
COLLINS: There's no evidence of that so far. I understand you have questions about it—
COMER: Well, we have evidence they’ve influence peddled, that they’ve always used the Biden name—
COLLINS: But not in relation to the classified documents.
COMER: We don’t have any evidence in the classified documents, but we're investigating that.
After that exchange, Collins announced she was out of time, thanked Comer for joining her, and tossed things back to Lemon and fellow co-host Poppy Harlow in the studio.
Lemon began his solemn denunciation of Republicans by declaring, “Alright, thank you. That’s going to be—that’s the time we're in where facts are sort of flexible—”
After a much-less solemn Harlow praised Collins of “fact-checking in real time,” Lemon continued, “Citing uncredible sources like citing the New York Post as a credible source and saying that facts are -- it's just -- I can't believe that we're here.”
Naturally, Lemon avoided condemning other people for spreading misinformation about the Post, mainly that the Hunter laptop story was Russian disinformation.
As Harlow tried to transition to new topics, Lemon stepped in to prevent this, "Anyway, not moving on because, listen, that's a big issue when it comes -- hold on, please, with the music. That’s a big issue when it comes to the American people. The American people are going to have to suffer through all of this stuff from election deniers to people who don't believe in facts, we don't have a shared reality.”
Speaking of a lack of shared reality, CNN This Morning and Don Lemon should probably look in the mirror before blaming the New York Post for that problem.
This segment was sponsored by AARP.
Here is a transcript for the February 7 show:
CNN This Morning
2/7/2023
7:36 AM ET
KAITLAN COLLINS: Okay, so you say you will ask for visitor names for Biden and for Pence but not for former President Trump.
JAMES COMER: Well, they're already looking into that. There’s already-- you have an aggressive special counsel looking into everything with Trump, related to his mishandling of classified documents. So that box is already checked.
COLLINS: Same to Biden as well, though, that’s the discrepancy there.
COMER: Well, we don't know—we don’t know exactly what all’s going on with Biden. Our investigation with Biden is over influence peddling. There's a concern among a lot of Republicans that some of these classified documents may have been part of the business model with the president's brother and the president's son in some of their shady business dealings.
COLLINS: Right.
COMER: That's why we're concerned about Biden.
COLLINS: There's no evidence of that so far. I understand you have questions about it—
COMER: Well, we have evidence they’ve influence peddled, that they’ve always used the Biden name—
COLLINS: But not in relation to the classified documents.
COMER: We don’t have any evidence in the classified documents, but we're investigating that.
COLLINS: Okay, Congressman Comer, we're out of time, unfortunately, we have a lot more questions for you. I know you have a bunch of hearings this week. Thank you for taking the time to join us.
COMER: Thank you for having me.
DON LEMON: Alright, thank you. That’s going to be—that’s the time we're in where facts are sort of flexible –
POPPY HARLOW: That's why we have Kaitlan Collins on The Hill fact-checking in real time.
DON LEMON: Citing uncredible sources like citing the New York Post as a credible source and saying that facts are -- it's just -- I can't believe that we're here.
HARLOW: Kaitlan, that was a great interview. Alright, moving on.
LEMON: Anyway, not moving on because, listen, that's a big issue when it comes -- hold on, please, with the music. That’s a big issue when it comes to the American people. The American people are going to have to suffer through all of this stuff from election deniers to people who don't believe in facts, we don't have a shared reality and now it's taking center stage too, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, an election denier, a conspiracy theorist, a Q-anon influencer or supporter presiding over the House of Representatives. It's a sad day for America when it happens and a sad time for us when we have to deal with that.
