Minutes before Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee impeachment inquiry hearing began, ABC journalists were already spinning what Republicans would say as nonsense. ABC’s Senior Congressional Correspondent Mary Bruce and Senior White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega dismissed Republicans as stooges for President Trump who would stop at nothing to disrupt the hearing with their “theatrics."
While Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran opened the coverage noting that both sides were “bitterly partisan,” ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos quickly abandoned that take by inviting Mary Bruce to portray the right as obstructionist clowns:
STEPHANOPOULOS: This Judiciary Committee draws some of the most partisan voices in the House.
MARY BRUCE: George, these are some of the most colorful characters in congress. This is likely to be a very rowdy and feisty hearing both sides are bracing for a fight here because this is a very hyperpartisan panel. It's going to be very different from what we have seen in the past. Both sides we are told, are holding mock hearings to prepare. Republicans here are going to try and essentially make it as difficult as possible for the Democrats. They are likely to try and interject, straight off the top, you’re likely to see some theatrics, they’re going to try some delay tactics, some procedural tactics to hold things up. Democrats, here the challenge for Chairman Jerrold Nadler here is to be to keep things on track, to be laser focused on president's conduct here because this is likely to be one of their last chances to try to sway public opinion before they head to a Senate trial.
A little while later, Cecilia Vega also dismissed Republican “theatrics” surely driven by a desire to appear on “cable news:”
"These are some of the president's most loyal allies that we are going to see today, as Mary was saying, who go out and stump for him often on cable TV. So theatrics are sure to be apart of this," she snarked.
Mary Bruce used nearly identical language during another impeachment hearing, November 13, touting Democrats as “serious and focused” while portraying Republicans as engaging in partisan dramatics.
