On Thursday's New Day, CNN analysts Jeffrey Toobin and Bianna Golodryga went negative on Republican members of Congress who decided to protest the House Democrats' secluded investigation of President Donald Trump over the Ukraine issue.
Legal analyst Toobin declared that they looked like "such jerks," and global affairs analyst Golodryga dismissed House Republicans as a "bunch of white men."
At 7:02 a.m. Eastern, co-host Alisyn Camerota accused Republicans of "hypocrisy" as she set up the segment:
The hypocrisy is stunning because we remember the Benghazi hearings. It wasn't that long. … We remember Benghazi, and they held the hearings in private. And they had their reasons. They stated them at the time -- they thought they would be less of a spectacle. And now, three years later, they are storming the skiff, the secure room, with their cell phones, which is not allowed, to try to create a spectacle.
Toobin cracked that Republican Congressman Mo Brooks reminds him of comedian Mel Brooks as he began his commentary:
Last night on AC360, there were several references to one of the congressional leaders of this ridiculous protest, and he's a congressman from Alabama named Mo Brooks, but I kept hearing "Mel Brooks" because it's so much sound -- I mean, this whole spectacle yesterday seemed like something out of a Mel Brooks movie, this ridiculous, you know, protest to be allowed inside when many of the members of the protest were actually members of the committee inside.
He further excoriated Republicans as he added: "They could have walked in at any point. It's a sign of desperation, you know, they captured, a news cycle, but I don't know what good that news cycle did them because they looked like such jerks."
Golodryga then jumped in to agree as she also injected race:
Yeah, you thought Mel Brooks -- I thought an episode of Veep. It really looked like a stunt, and it also -- looking at these members coming in, you saw a handful of women, Other than that, you just saw a bunch of white men, and I just thought to myself, "This is not what America looks like right now," right? And so I don't know what the point is that they were trying to make by storming this hearing.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, October 24, New Day on CNN:
ALISYN CAMEROTA: The hypocrisy is stunning because we remember the Benghazi hearings. It wasn't that long. … We remember Benghazi, and they held the hearings in private. And they had their reasons. They stated them at the time -- they thought they would be less of a spectacle. And now, three years later, they are storming the skiff, the secure room, with their cell phones, which is not allowed, to try to create a spectacle
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Last night on AC360, there were several references to one of the congressional leaders of this ridiculous protest, and he's a congressman from Alabama named Mo Brooks, but I kept hearing "Mel Brooks" because it's so much sound -- I mean, this whole spectacle yesterday seemed like something out of a Mel Brooks movie, this ridiculous, you know, protest to be allowed inside when many of the members of the protest were actually members of the committee inside. They could have walked in at any point. It's a sign of desperation, you know, they captured, a news cycle, but I don't know what good that news cycle did them because they looked like such jerks.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yeah, you thought Mel Brooks -- I thought an episode of Veep. It really looked like a stunt, and it also -- looking at these members coming in, you saw a handful of women, Other than that, you just saw a bunch of white men, and I just thought to myself, "This is not what America looks like right now," right? And so I don't know what the point is that they were trying to make by storming this hearing.
Serious issues -- serious ramifications are coming out of what we're hearing from the people who are testifying who are lifelong diplomats who have served this country, and this is what follows. And it comes, as you said, two days after the President said that Republicans need to fight harder. And if this is all they have, I'm sorry, you know, the facts speak louder than these public protests.
