ABC’s Good Morning America co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos isn’t a fan of pushback over the second Trump indictment. In addition to meltdowns last week when now-ex-Trump attorney Jim Trusty brought up the Biden documents probe and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) doing the same on Sunday’s This Week, he pitched a third fit on Thursday’s GMA. This time, it came from an unlikely source in 2024 GOP presidential longshot Francis Suarez.
Stephanopoulos had allowed Suarez a brief answer about why he was running for president before shifting gears to the Trump indictment: “To win, of course, you’re going to have to defeat the Republican front-runner right now, Donald Trump — former President Trump. You were in the courtroom Monday in Mi — this week in Miami. What did you make of the indictment?”
To his credit, the liberal Republican threw it back in his face and called out the media, noting he reckons “people were hoping that — and some members of the press were even hoping there would be anarchy” in Miami, but there wasn’t.
Stephanopoulos wasn’t pleased with the jab: “But, sir, I asked you what you thought of the indictment.”
Suarez replied he’s there “to talk about Miami,” but “if we continue to have a conversation about the former president, then the former President will be the nominee.”
Stephanopoulos put his thumb on the scale, boasting “that’s inevitable.”
The Miami mayor reiterated he was there to talk about his campaign, but Stephanopoulos — a liberal partisan on a network seeking to return to their supposed glory days obsessing over Trump — had a narrative to push: “Yes, but tell — tell me what you think about the indictment. Do you think it shows that Donald Trump is fit to be President?”
Suarez briefly touched on the indictment, noting “people are frustrated in this country, particularly Republicans who feel that there isn’t an equal administration of justice.”
But because Suarez wouldn’t give an answer Stephanopoulos wanted, he kept pressing:
But I’m asking you about the President — I’m asking you about President Trump’s behavior. Your — one of your fellow challengers to Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, said it showed incredibly reckless behavior. Did the President do anything wrong in the way he handled classified information?
Suarez brushed it aside saying he didn’t have all the details. Not surprisingly, Stephanopoulos interrupted and repeatedly asking if he read the indictment and, if so, “what did it say to you.”
Lectured by Stephanopoulos to “answer the question,” Suarez said he wouldn’t be caught in that situation or hoarding classified documents in his garage like Joe Biden was found to have done in January (even though he’s under federal investigation).
This left the ABC co-host incensed: “No, but there’s a very big — sir, there’s a very big difference between those two cases.”
He further huffed that “President Biden turned them over himself. Had Donald Trump turned over all those documents, he wouldn’t have been charged.”
“I’m asking about his behavior. Do you think it showed concern — proper concern for classified material? Do you think it was reckless? Do you think it was legal,” he asked.
Suarez pivoted back to his focus on Biden, but not before blasting this Trump-centric focus as “not a healthy conversation for the country” that would result in him securing the nomination (and not anyone else) when, instead, there should be “a healthier” one “about the issues that Americans care about.”
Stephanopoulos’s latest partisan hissy fit was made possible thanks to advertisers such as Consumer Cellular and Nature’s Bounty. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcript from June 15, click “expand.”
ABC’s Good Morning America
June 15, 2023
8:13 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: ABC News Exclusive; Race for the White House Heats Up; Miami Mayor Launches Campaign for Republican Nomination]
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: To win, of course, you’re going to have to defeat the Republican front-runner right now, Donald Trump — former President Trump. You were in the courtroom Monday in Mi — this week in Miami. What did you make of the indictment?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: ABC News Exclusive; Miami Mayor Francis Suarez Live; On Trump, DeSantis & His Path to the Republican Nomination]
FRANCIS SUAREZ: Yeah. I think one of the things that happened in Miami is people were hoping that — and some members of the press were even hoping there would be anarchy. And I think Miami did what Miami has done. We have lowered homicides —
STEPHANOPOULOS: But, sir, I asked you —
SUAREZ: — per capita —
STEPHANOPOULOS: — what you thought of the indictment.
SUAREZ: — well and I want to talk about Miami. You know, I think if we continue to have a conversation about the former President, then the former President will be the nominee.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, that’s inevitable.
SUAREZ: I’m here to talk about why I’m running for president.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes, but tell — tell me what you think about the indictment. Do you think it shows that Donald Trump is fit to be President?
SUAREZ: I — I think what it shows is that people are frustrated in this country, particularly Republicans who feel that there isn’t an equal administration of justice. That’s what I hear. That’s what Republicans are telling me. And I think that’s where their frustration lies. I think the fact that we’re in a presidential campaign and we’re seeing, you know, a former President be indicted multiple times is something that Republicans view as partisan and problematic in a country like ours, in a democracy like ours.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But I’m asking you about the President —
SUAREZ: From my perspective —
STEPHANOPOULOS: — I’m asking you about President Trump’s behavior. Your — one of your fellow challengers to Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, said it showed incredibly reckless behavior. Did the President do anything wrong in the way he handled classified information?
SUAREZ: Well, I don’t know all the details about how he handled classified information. I do know that the former President —
STEPHANOPOULOS: You read the indictment, didn’t you?
SUAREZ: — and — for —
STEPHANOPOULOS: Did you read the indictment?
SUAREZ: — of course. But what — what I’m saying —
STEPHANOPOULOS: What — what did it say to you?
SUAREZ: — is — sure. Of course —
STEPHANOPOULOS: — what did it say to you?
SUAREZ: — I read the indictment.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I mean, I’m just trying to get a simple answer to that question.
SUAREZ: Sure.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I let you say why you’re running for president.
SUAREZ: Yeah.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Answer that question.
SUAREZ: Yeah, look, it’s not what I would have done. I would have turned over the documents. But if I were the former Vice President and then current President I wouldn’t have stored classified documents in my — in my garage either. The former Vice President of the United States under the current President — under the former President also had issues with classified documents.
STEPHANOPOULOS: No, but there’s a very big —
SUAREZ: You know —
STEPHANOPOULOS: — sir, there’s a very big difference between those two cases. President Biden turned them over himself. Had Donald Trump turned over all those documents, he wouldn’t have been charged. I’m asking about his behavior. Do you think it showed concern — proper concern for classified material? Do you think it was reckless? Do you think it was legal?
SUAREZ: — like I said before, you know, I’m not a — a — you know, an expert on these kinds of matters, but I do want to say this, that this conversation is not a healthy conversation for the country. We should be talking about the issues that Americans care about. We shouldn’t be talking about, you know, candidates being indicted. And I think if we start having a healthier conversation in this country, which is, by the way, all the messages that I have received in the last 24 hours about how refreshing my candidacy is and how different it is because it’s positive and unifying and focused on a positive future for Americans. Frankly, George, I mean, I — no disrespect to you, that’s the conversation I want to have. That’s what my candidacy is going to be about. If my candidacy is going to be about responding to — to, you know, things that former President Trump did, then there’s not going to be much of a candidacy —
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you’re running against him though?
SUAREZ: — by the way, not for me, not for any other Republican nominees.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You’re running against —
SUAREZ: I’m running to be president of the United States.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Donald Trump.
SUAREZ: See, that’s where you’re wrong. I’m running to be the president of the United States. And I’m running against Joe Biden’s America.
