Let's hope Elie Honig isn't banished to the CNN equivalent of Siberia. Because on New Day this morning, Honig, a CNN legal analyst, lit into Andrew McCabe for lying to federal investigators, suggesting he should be given the same treatment as others prosecuted for doing the same.
Highlights:
- "Whenever we hear something from McCabe, we have to keep in mind he has a serious credibility problem."
- "He lied three times in three separate interviews about whether he was a leak, or authorized theleak on the Hillary Clinton case."
- "Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, George Papadopoulos, were all prosecuted for making false statements to federal investigators. I don't see why McCabe's case is really any different than those."
Damning stuff. And we know how hot CNN has been in going after Manafort, Flynn, and crew. None of them wrote anti-Trump books and did hours of book interviews with liberal networks. CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 gave McCabe about a half-hour of interview time on Tuesday night.
Alisyn Camerota floated a feeble defense of McCabe, suggesting that the FBI had authorized him to serve as press liaison. Retorted Honig: "the DOJ, OIG [Office of the Inspector General] certainly didn't buy" that theory.
Note: contrast Honig's hard-nosed comments with the softball treatment that, as our Kyle Drennen has detailed, Morning Joe accorded McCabe today. Mika Brzeziniski actually wondered whether, instead of McCabe being charged with lying, the Inspector General itself should be investigated for having the audacity to suggest that McCabe had lied!
Here's the transcript:
CNN
New Day
2/20/19
6:14 am ET
ELIE HONIG: Whenever we hear something from McCabe, we need to keep in mind: he has a serious credibility problem. The Department of Justice Inspector General found that he lacked candor, which is the polite, bureaucratic way of saying he lied three times in three separate interviews about whether he was a leak, or authorized the leak on the Hillary Clinton case. He's made a defense during this book tour, well, I was confused and I didn't understand the questions. I find that completely unconvincing. He didn't just have one bad day. Three separate times lied to the FBI.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: He also said he was authorized by the FBI to be the person who was the liaison with the press. You don't buy that?
HONIG: The DOJ, the OIG certainly did not buy it. And look: Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, George Papadopoulos, were all prosecuted for making false statements to federal investigators. I don't see why McCabe's case is really any different than those.
