Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley continued her book tour Thursday with an appearance on CNN’s The Situation Room and, during an exchange with host Wolf Blitzer about the Trump impeachment, blasted the liberal media for “want[ing] there to be something wrong” found against President Trump.
Hilariously, Blitzer countered that his show doesn’t have a bias, which was amazing for him to say since, hours earlier, he disgraced himself by, aside from continuing to live for impeachment, pressing White House counselor Kellyanne Conway about her marriage.
Partway through the interview, Blitzer asked Haley to speculate about how Wednesday’s impeachment hearing featuring EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland would go and if he would state that “the President was soliciting foreign assistance, soliciting a foreign national to help in a U.S. political campaign” because that would be “against the law” and spell more doom for Trump.
Haley reiterated a point she’s held throughout this hubbub, which was that America shouldn’t be “ask[ing] a foreign entity to investigate an American,” but “at the end of the day, it didn’t happen” and thus rendering impeachment a waste of time.
Blitzer countered that Ukrainian aid was still withheld and again tried to have Haley give him an acceptable answer that spelled doom for Trump. Not surprisingly, it didn’t work and led Haley to land her jab about the media’s giddiness (click “expand”):
HALEY: Show me the proof because I don't see anywhere where the President heavy handed the president of Ukraine and you have to do this or else.
BLITZER: Well, he did.
HALEY: And that's what everybody will come back and say. I mean, honestly, that's the nature of the defense here is, look, I know y’all want there to be something wrong, but at the end of the day, there's nothing that shows he threatened or he held their hand saying we’re not going to release until you do this and that’s — that's the issue and that’s — obviously that's the problem in Congress and why they can't come to a resolution on this.
Besides the fact that his show was on CNN and he has Jeff Zucker for a boss, Blitzer ignored the fact that his guests often include anti-Trumpers, former Obama officials, and liberal journalists like Chris Cillizza, Laura Coates, Susan Hennessey, Jeffrey Toobin, Shawn Turner, and Samantha Vinograd:
I don’t want to — I just want to point out that when you say “you all,” we just want to report the news. We just want to report the facts. We want to see where this leads. We don’t have a political position here in The Situation Room.
And, if those examples aren’t good enough, any show that relies on Jim Acosta for news reports won’t be receiving a passing grade.
Blitzer asked again why won’t the President allow current and former officials like Mick Mulvaney and John Bolton to testify if he believes he did nothing wrong, Haley went back to the well about the left (and, by extension, the media) being out to get him despite the fact that a presidential election is less than a year away (click “expand”):
HALEY: You know, I mean, that, look, I was governor and I know the political games back and forth. I think if the President thought there was a genuine investigation, he would have no problem with them testifying. I think he feels like this truly is a witch hunt and so he has his back up, and he thinks this is a way for y'all to trick everybody into saying something. I just know how he thinks and so from that standpoint he's going to hatch his guard up, he's going to have his back up and think you're trying to pull his people in so you can interrogate them or humiliate them or do something else.
(....)
HALEY: [W]e’ve got an impeachment going on when there’s less than a year for an election. I mean, it screams politics. It screams all kinds of political gamesmanship. That's just the reality of it and I think that, you know, you have to look at the situation he's going to say, why would I send them there when I see what they're trying to do for political gain?
BLITZER: But the House of Representatives has that constitutional authority if they want to launch an impeachment inquiry, they can do that.
The President could appoint Bernie Sanders as his running mate or the House could make it illegal to be a billionaire (though more than a few would probably enjoy it), but that doesn’t mean any of them should do those things.
Since this was Wolf Blitzer, it certainly didn’t rival the smackdown that took place earlier this week between Haley and NBC’s Today co-host Savannah Guthrie.
To see the relevant transcript from CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on November 13, click “expand.”
CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
November 14, 2019
6:07 p.m. EasternWOLF BLITZER: Let's a little talk about the allegation. We’re going to hear from ambassador sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the European union next week in open, television sessions. He revised his original statement. He now agrees with the others that, yes, the President was pressuring the Ukrainian President Zelensky for political help, in effect, in dealing with the Bidens. You know, this — this is important because if in fact the President was soliciting foreign assistance, soliciting a foreign national to help in a U.S. political campaign, that's against the law.
NIKKI HALEY: I don't think it's ever a good practice for us to ask a foreign entity to investigate an American. I've said that multiple times. I don't think that's good practice.
BLITZER: Was that what the President was doing?
HALEY: At the end of the day, it didn't happen. So, you know, I think a lot of people say that, you know, the president was doing this with Ukraine, I can tell you Ukraine — the Ukrainian ambassador was my number one ally on the security council. I mean, the President was very adamant about making sure Ukraine have everything they needed, that's why they got anti-tank missiles. That’s why they got military training. That’s why he kept the sanctions on Russia and expelled diplomats and has increased our military and our energy component. So to look at the history, I can tell you, at least from my standpoint, he was always very adamant to help Ukraine and I think he always has. I think what you saw were two presidents having a conversation. The president said that he’d like to have an investigation. It didn’t happen.
BLITZER: But as few months, he suspended that aid.
HALEY: The money went through.
BLITZER: He didn’t let it go through.
HALEY: It was for, like, less than two months that was held. I mean, those things can happen, but for some reason and we don't know whether it was senators, whether he decided to do it, but he didn’t demand —
BLITZER: If —
HALEY: — an investigate [sic]. That's the point is —
BLITZER: — if Ambassador Sondland —
HALEY: — he didn’t threaten or demand —
BLITZER: — If Ambassador Sondland says next Wednesday before the television cameras what he said in his revised addendum in a statement this was done to force the Ukrainians into engaging in a political investigation on behalf of the president for political purposes, what would you say?
HALEY: Show me the proof because I don't see anywhere where the President heavy handed the president of Ukraine and you have to do this or else.
BLITZER: Well, he did.
HALEY: And that's what everybody will come back and say. I mean, honestly, that's the nature of the defense here is, look, I know y’all want there to be something wrong, but at the end of the day, there's nothing that shows he threatened or he held their hand saying we’re not going to release until you do this and that’s — that's the issue and that’s — obviously that's the problem in Congress and why they can't come to a resolution on this.
BLITZER: I don’t want to — I just want to point out that when you say “you all,” we just want to report the news. We just want to report the facts. We want to see where this leads.
HALEY: I appreciate that.
BLITZER: We don’t have a political position here in The Situation Room. If the President did absolutely nothing wrong, a phone conversation perfect, couldn't have been better as the President says, why not, for example let the acting white house chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney or the former national security advisor, John Bolton, come before the American people and tell us what happened.
HALEY: You know, I mean, that, look, I was governor and I know the political games back and forth. I think if the President thought there was a genuine investigation, he would have no problem with them testifying. I think he feels like this truly is a witch hunt and so he has his back up, and he thinks this is a way for y'all to trick everybody into saying something. I just know how he thinks and so from that standpoint he's going to hatch his guard up, he's going to have his back up and think you're trying to pull his people in so you can interrogate them or humiliate them or do something else.
BLITZER: Well, why would they have to be tricked if they just had to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Why would they be tricked?
HALEY: I know, but you have to look at the fact, we’ve got an impeachment going on when there’s less than a year for an election. I mean, it screams politics. It screams all kinds of political gamesmanship. That's just the reality of it and I think that, you know, you have to look at the situation he's going to say, why would I send them there when I see what they're trying to do for political gain?
BLITZER: But the House of Representatives has that constitutional authority if they want to launch an impeachment inquiry, they can do that.
HALEY: And they are.
BLITZER: They — they certainly can.
