CNN Inside Politics host Dana Bash mournfully responded to a CNN poll on Thursday that showed 55 percent of Americans, including 52 percent of independents, believe President Joe Biden has acted inappropriately during the Hunter Biden probe by lamenting that his plan “to separate himself” from the probe has allowed Republicans to set the narrative.
Bash claimed, “I have heard from people in and around Hunter Biden's world for some time, incredible frustration that his father, the president, and more importantly, the Democrats who are in this this, sort of, strategist world, have not been mounting a defense.”
She then lamented, “if you let things hang out there, I mean how many examples do we have in modern politics, if you don't answer something and push back, particularly something that there's no evidence of, it's going to seep into the zeitgeist and that seems to be what is happening, at least according to this poll.”
Even if that were true, Biden has had the media play the role of P.R. defender for him. Nevertheless, correspondent Kristen Holmes agreed with Bash, “Yeah, and I think especially with something like this, where they are moving this out there, Republicans, on every level, they're doing investigations in the House. You have all of the presidential candidates talking about this. You have these Republican operatives talking about this. They are on this message non-stop and it's not just on Fox. I mean, they are saying it in rallies. They're talking about it on social media.”
Despite the poll results, Holmes tried to paint concerns about the Bidens as a “far-right” phenomena, “This is their talking point or one of their very big talking points right now, particularly when you look at the far-right. I’ve heard from a number of Democrats who told me they wish they would push back or even say anything at all because right now it feels as though they are getting clobbered.”
Bash then stepped back in to again defend Joe Biden, “Yeah, and what they say at the White House and, again, inside Biden World is this what he ran on, to separate himself from the Justice Department, that there's a DOJ probe and he doesn't want to do anything to step on that.”
Later on in the show, the conversation shifted to reports that the DOJ plans to indict Hunter. Towards the end of that conversation, Bash turned to the not-at-all conservative legal analyst Elie Honig and stated, “a sitting president, his Justice Department, likely indicting and trying to take to trial his son, the president’s son.”
Honig has carved out an interesting space in the media as the liberal who is the proverbial broken clock that is right two times a day and he declared “DOJ's giving me whiplash on this one because six weeks ago, they were—they did walk into court and they were ready to get rid of this case for a misdemeanor and dismiss the gun charge.”
For Honig, there is only one logical explanation: the IRS whistleblowers were correct:
Now, they’re about to indict him for a felony gun charge, which would likely carry jail time if there's a conviction. The only conclusion that I think is consistent with all this is that the whistleblowers were right. That, initially, DOJ was ready to go in there and give this deal away cheaply and when the political pressure amped up, DOJ did a complete 180 and now they’ve appointed—they’ve made David Weiss special counsel and now they’re bringing an indictment.
Honig was talking about Hunter’s taxes and gun charges while the earlier conversation was about his business dealings, but if the whistleblowers were correct about Hunter’s taxes then it would not be unreasonable to assume that Joe Biden’s DOJ’s investigations into Hunter’s business dealings are also not up to par.
This segment was sponsored by Consumer Cellular.
Here is a transcript for the September 7 show:
CNN Inside Politics with Dana Bash
9/7/2023
12:11 PM ET
DANA BASH: What David said is so true. I have heard from people in and around Hunter Biden's world for some time, incredible frustration that his father, the president, and more importantly, the Democrats who are in this this, sort of, strategist world, have not been mounting a defense, because if you let things hang out there, I mean how many examples do we have in modern politics, if you don't answer something and push back, particularly something that there's no evidence of, it's going to seep into the zeitgeist and that seems to be what is happening, at least according to this poll.
KRISTEN HOLMES: Yeah, and I think especially with something like this, where they are moving this out there, Republicans, on every level, they're doing investigations in the House. You have all of the presidential candidates talking about this. You have these Republican operatives talking about this. They are on this message non-stop and it's not just on Fox. I mean, they are saying it in rallies. They're talking about it on social media. This is their talking point or one of their very big talking points right now, particularly when you look at the far-right. I’ve heard from a number of Democrats who told me they wish they would push back or even say anything at all because right now it feels as though they are getting clobbered.
BASH: Yeah, and what they say at the White House and, again, inside Biden World is this what he ran on, to separate himself from the Justice Department, that there's a DOJ probe and he doesn't want to do anything to step on that.
…
12:26
BASH: Real quick, Elie, as Evan said, a sitting president, his Justice Department, likely indicting and trying to take to trial his son, the president’s son.
ELIE HONIG: Yeah Dana, DOJ's giving me whiplash on this one because six weeks ago, they were—they did walk into court and they were ready to get rid of this case for a misdemeanor and dismiss the gun charge. Now, they’re about to indict him for a felony gun charge, which would likely carry jail time if there's a conviction. The only conclusion that I think is consistent with all this is that the whistleblowers were right.
That, initially, DOJ was ready to go in there and give this deal away cheaply and when the political pressure amped up, DOJ did a complete 180 and now they’ve appointed—they’ve made David Weiss special counsel and now they’re bringing an indictment.
