Journalists at ABC couldn’t hide their excitement over the upcoming Robert Mueller congressional hearing Wednesday morning, spinning it as the ideal time to impeach the President. Despite a failed attempt by one Democrat last week to secure the votes in the House for that cause, and the fact that the Justice Department said this hearing will not go beyond the bounds of the Mueller report, the Good Morning America team kept pushing the “i-word” repeatedly.
It was the first thing on the mind of anchor George Stephanopoulos who opened the show by gushing, “The big question: what will it mean about impeachment?” Despite the Mueller Report’s conclusions finding no evidence of collusion with Russia, Stephanopoulos wondered what “crimes” would be revealed by Mueller, asking, “What will Mueller say about Russia, the President and possible crimes?”
Congressional correspondent Mary Bruce was also eager to hype impeachment, excitedly proclaiming from the hearing room on Capitol Hill, “What we see in this room here today will likely be a turning point in the fight to impeach. This morning, the moment Democrats have been waiting for.” (or the media has been waiting for?)
Bruce touted again that this was the time for Democrats to seriously pursue impeachment: “Mueller's testimony this morning could be their last best chance to convince the public to support impeachment,” she advised.
ABC’s Senior Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas also noted that Mueller knew his answers could be utilized by Democrats as reason for impeachment: “He is well aware whatever he says will be used in some fashion to determine whether the Democrats pursue impeachment of the President of the United States,” Thomas stated.
Finally, Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl was convinced that Trump was running scared of what Mueller would say today, that would contradict the Justice Department’s findings of no obstruction or collusion. Speaking about Trump’s tweets against Mueller this morning, Karl predicted:
“Part of what is happening here is that he knows the Democrats will ask point blank Robert Mueller ‘did you find no collusion?’ His answer would likely be ‘no’ and when he's asked ‘did you find no obstruction?’ His answer also would be ‘no.’”
