Showing their bias for anyone and anything anti-Trump, CNN’s At This Hour showed nothing but warm sympathy on Monday morning for Peter Strzok upon news he was fired by the FBI, repeatedly expressing hope that “he was treated fairly” and fretting that he was “a favorite punching bag” for President Trump and conservative media.
The Washington Post reported the firing (which took place Friday) following his anti-Trump text messages, affair with fellow FBI employee Lisa Page, and a truly unbelievable July 12 House hearing that CNN and the rest of the liberal media deemed a Joe McCarthy-like show trial by Republicans to benefit the Kremlin (see here, here, here, here, and here).
“But I will say, he’s certainly been a favorite punching bag for the President. I mean, the President’s tweeted about him, you know, day after day after day and has really elevated him and Lisa Page,” Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey told host Kate Bolduan, who agreed that Strzok was “one of his favorite punching bags of recent.”
Dawsey also couldn’t help but take a few swings at conservative media (click “expand” to see more):
He’s elevated him and Lisa Page, you know, to the forefront of conservative media, a lot of segments on Fox News, a lot of segments on Breitbart, The Daily Caller on the right. You know, Peter Strzok has really been a figure of particular derision. And during his testimony on Hill, he tried to explain his text messages. You know, he got in a tense debate with GOP members and some on the left tried to, you know, defend him. But it's clear that whatever happened in these text messages have been, you know, larger than life news story partially because of the President's, you know, propensity and ability to, you know, make it so with just nonstop posts and nonstop comments about it.
Former Obama National Security aide and CNN analyst Sam Vinograd used the occasion to assert that “the FBI is not partisan and the FBI has internal processes despite what Devin Nunes,” Trump, or “other conspiracy theorists and Russia like to say.”
Dawsey came back in and bemoaned how “[i]t's hard to imagine the President would not see this as a vindication, even if it is or not” even though “the facts are still coming in.”
“But it's hard to imagine the President won't cast this as a vindication everything I was saying, you know, look, I was, this guy was fired bad conduct and as we have seen the President often doesn't let facts get in the way of his argument of how he presents things and you have to imagine this was welcome news for him,” Dawsey added.
CNN legal analysts Jennifer Rodgers and Glenn Kirschner joined the discussion and both expressed sympathy toward Strzok as if we’re supposed to feel bad for him. Rodgers told Bolduan that “for Mueller and his team, it just kind of takes someone out of the way who was still a distraction” and “it’s too bad for Peter Strzok if he wasn’t treated fairly and he may work that out in civil litigation, but I think everyone else just needs to move on from this.”
Meanwhile, Kirschner stated that “I hope he was treated fairly by the FBI leadership, that they found a fireable offense and that they acted accordingly” despite his “horrendous decisions he made early on.”
Like a true mouthpiece for FBI partisans and allies like Fusion GPS, crime and justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz expressed sadness that Strzok’s supposed expertise could no longer keep America safe (click “expand” for more):
PROKUPECZ: But nonetheless, obviously, a significant development in this entire story and this entire investigation and what Peter Strzok meant to all of this politically and perhaps even legally in this investigation, now fired. And also I want to point out, Peter Strzok was a 20-year veteran and what he meant to the FBI in terms of his knowledge on counter-intelligence investigation, on Russia, also on China. I mean, he led these investigations for all these years and he’s now been fired.
BOLDUAN: That’s an important perspective in all of this.
To see the relevant transcript from CNN’s At This Hour with Kate Bolduan on August 13, click “expand.”
CNN’s At This Hour with Kate Bolduan
August 13, 2018
11:09 a.m. Eastern
KATE BOLDUAN: This is a big — this is a very — this is a very important moment. Obviously, Peter Strzok is the FBI agent — he was taken off the investigation when these text messages were revealed — off the Mueller investigation when the text messages were revealed. He’s been something on, you know, desk duty to this point and now, according — according to your colleague, he’s out.
JOSH DAWSEY: Well, I’m just hearing this for the first time on air too, so I don't know a ton. But I will say, he’s certainly been a favorite punching bag for the President. I mean, the President’s tweeted about him, you know, day after day after day and has really elevated him and Lisa Page.
BOLDUAN: Yeah, one of his favorite punching bags of recent.
DAWSEY: He’s elevated him and Lisa Page, you know, to the forefront of conservative media, a lot of segments on Fox News, a lot of segments on Breitbart, The Daily Caller on the right. You know, Peter Strzok has really been a figure of particular derision. And during his testimony on Hill, he tried to explain his text messages. You know, he got in a tense debate with GOP members and some on the left tried to, you know, defend him. But it's clear that whatever happened in these text messages have been, you know, larger than life news story partially because of the President's, you know, propensity and ability to, you know, make it so with just nonstop posts and nonstop comments about it.
(....)
BOLDUAN: And — and as Nia — we are talking about it, Sam, when Peter Strzok was on the Hill, when he was testifying on Capitol Hill, it was one of mos explosive, multiple hours of testimony that I have seen. He defended himself vehemently saying those were intimate text messages between him and someone else and in no way did bias — you know, his personal opinions if you will, any of his work in a professional capacity, defending himself vehemently. But now he’s out and I'm trying to — I’m looking in The Washington Post. It doesn't say — it says, of course, he was fired after these text messages had come to light. It doesn't say exactly that the reason given for the firing is not what I'm seeing quite yet, in the reporting I'm seeing, but your reaction to this?
SAMANTHA VINOGRAD: My reaction is if he was fired by the FBI, that's not because of pressure from President Trump. That's because the FBI is not partisan and the FBI has internal processes despite what Devin Nunes and other conspiracy theorists and Russia like to say. The FBI functions, does internal reviews. The department of Justice has an Inspector General and likely reviewed his activity and found it violated protocol.
BOLDUAN: Josh, I’m honestly looking down at my Twitter feed to see what the president says. What — what — what do you think the President does with this?
DAWSEY: I — I imagine that he elevates and amplifies a message of him being fired. I mean, you’ve seen the president repeatedly called for a number of people to be fired. He’s called for the probe to end. He’s called for lots of actions of the FBI and DOJ have not taken here too fore and at times when he has, you know, had a revelation that came out that he’s in favor of him, he’s talked about it at length ad naseum. It's hard to imagine the president would not see this as a vindication, even if it is or not. Obviously, the facts are still coming in. I don't know. But it's hard to imagine the President won't cast this as a vindication everything I was saying, you know, look, I was, this guy was fired bad conduct and as we have seen the president often doesn't let facts get in the way of his argument of how he presents things and you have to imagine this was welcome news for him.
(....)
JENNIFER RODGERS: Well, you know, look, I think he has been fired. The FBI doesn't want him anymore. He is not going to get back in there, right. He was already taken out of this investigation and really anything having to do with anything other than personnel matters. So, you know, I don't think it matters as a practical matter what Peter Strzok is going to do. He wasn't working on anything of importance anyway. He may have legal action, depending on whether he was fired properly, whether he had due process. But, you know, I think for Mueller and his team, it just kind of takes someone out of the way who was still a distraction. You know, not that they had anything to do with this, but they just need to focus on what they are doing. The FBI needs to move ahead with what’s doing. You know, it’s too bad for Peter Strzok if he wasn’t treated fairly and he may work that out in civil litigation, but I think everyone else just needs to move on from this.
(....)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ: But nonetheless, obviously, a significant development in this entire story and this entire investigation and what Peter Strzok meant to all of this politically and perhaps even legally in this investigation, now fired. And also I want to point out, Peter Strzok was a 20-year veteran and what he meant to the FBI in terms of his knowledge on counter-intelligence investigation, on Russia, also on China. I mean, he led these investigations for all these years and he’s now been fired.
BOLDUAN: That’s an important perspective in all of this.
(....)
GLENN KIRSCHNER: Yeah, I think everything that Agent Strzok said during that hearing probably factored into the FBI's decision and I would agree that I hope that Agent Strzok was treated fairly, notwithstanding the horrendous decisions he made early on. I hope he was treated fairly by the FBI leadership, that they found a fireable offense and that they acted accordingly. And again, we have to wait for the facts to come in, but — but we really need our institutions to follow their own policies and procedures.
