There was collusion and so much collusion that we’re swimming it! That’s according to bombastic CNN host Chris Cuomo and washed up Watergate-era reporter Carl Bernstein. Not only was there “a ton of collusion” but if you didn’t realize that after reading the Mueller Report, you’re just not that smart and too political, they declared late Thursday afternoon.
Despite the many “bombshells” reports that blew up in the media’s collective faces over the last two years, Bernstein insisted the Special Counsel report was “the connective tissue that explains everything almost we've been reporting over the past two years.”
Among their false narratives was there claim President Trump colluded with Russia and was really a Russian spy asset. According to Bernstein they only people who could see that evidence in Robert Mueller’s report were smart, good people: “It’s here in substance, in nuance, in context and it is there for all people of good will in this country, if they are not so dug in politically or ideologically to process information and make some sophisticated judgments about the behavior of everybody I've mentioned here.”
Cuomo was in full agreement that only smart people could find collusion in the report. He even argued that Mueller had found so much collusion that you shouldn’t try to deny it:
Sophisticated judgment is the operative phrase because I don't know how, in good conscience, if you have a dose of shame in you -- and you want to support the President, that is fine, stick to criminality. Stay away from the word collusion, because there is a ton of collusion. There is a ton of clever secretive behavior and Mueller lays it all out. The idea that there is nothing in here or that it was a witch hunt or this is a hoax, I don't know how they make that case in good conscious anymore.
Adding on to their already ridiculous hyperbole, Bernstein suggested that the reason certain venerable members of Trump’s administration had left was because the President was “in fact a danger to the national security of the United States. And that, too, comes through this report.”
Bernstein then pleaded with Republicans to read the report and oppose their President:
So you have to ask, at a certain point, when does a political party become beholden so much to a kind of self-interest of one man that it abandons its own principles about putting the country first in terms of what our system of law has always been about in this country. This is an opportunity, a real, smart, able Republicans and read this report. I think they can make some sophisticated judgments about their President. It is not pretty. It is an ugly, damning piece of business.
Before proclaiming there was collusion all over the place and insulting peoples’ intelligence, Bernstein assailed Attorney General William Barr’s reputation by proclaiming the AG was taking part in a “cover-up” (click “expand”):
Well, I think obviously, the Attorney General of the United States has thrown his lot in with those who believe there is a vast conspiracy against the President of the United States. And that he is echoing the line of the White House. I think what is so significant is how different Mueller's report is from how it was characterized in a rather astonishing press conference by the Attorney General. This is a vast narrative of a presidential cover-up. That is really what most of these 400 pages are about, including things having to do with Russia. It explains, I think, why there was so much lying by the President and those around him. And also, I think we're now able to understand from this report how judgments are possible about, one, the conduct of the President of the United States. Two, about the conduct of the Attorney General of the United States, these past days. Three, about the conduct of the investigation that Mr. Mueller conducted. We can make real judgments about it’s ethicacy and what he found. And fourth, I think we could make some real judgments about the conducts of the press over the past four years.
Bernstein was sharing all this supposed insight and delivering it with authority, but he admitted that he was “still halfway through the report.” This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Mueller Report: Special Coverage
April 18, 2019
3:30:04 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: Let me get perspective from you on how this was handled by the AG. No John Mitchell of what we saw back in Watergate days where he was part of an active criminal conspiracy, but what do you think about the way the AG handled this today and up to today.
CARL BERNSTEIN: Well, I think obviously, the Attorney General of the United States has thrown his lot in with those who believe there is a vast conspiracy against the President of the United States. And that he is echoing the line of the White House. I think what is so significant is how different Mueller's report is from how it was characterized in a rather astonishing press conference by the Attorney General.
This is a vast narrative of a presidential cover-up. That is really what most of these 400 pages are about, including things having to do with Russia. It explains, I think, why there was so much lying by the President and those around him. And also, I think we're now able to understand from this report how judgments are possible about, one, the conduct of the President of the United States. Two, about the conduct of the Attorney General of the United States, these past days. Three, about the conduct of the investigation that Mr. Mueller conducted. We can make real judgments about it’s ethicacy and what he found. And fourth, I think we could make some real judgments about the conducts of the press over the past four years.
It all comes together. I think this is a great opportunity. I'm still halfway through the report. But reading it, we now have some real clarity and it is also -- It's abundantly clear, I believe, that Mr. Mueller intended this vast narrative to go to the Congress of the United States for whatever purposes they saw fit. So this is no exoneration of the President of the United States by a long shot.
CUOMO: Well, look, we heard the AG say today, “I don't know that he wanted this to be for Congress. He never said that to me. It is right in the report.”
BERNSTEIN: That is right.
CUOMO: And this very tortured -- look, I think there are questions about Mueller here also. You could make the argument and he just sort of said I can't make the case of obstruction. But he didn't do that. He took a risk in not doing that. That he would be criticized for extending himself into the political but he took that risk. And obviously, it was done by consensus because we had a team. And In that team consensus, we saw them take the time to spelled out how wild there are complicated legal issues regarding his ability to charge.
What are those? Article two, the DOJ guidance about indicting a president among others, that Congress can do something about this and then threw in language that dictated a political process by saying can't charge, can't exonerate as we both know prosecutors aren't in the business of exoneration. They never talk about exonerating people, finding them innocent. He did that for a reason to say there is enough here just not for me. Fair take?
BERNSTEIN: I went back and read the charge to Mr. Mueller when he was appointed and he's supposed to produce a report, not just about charging or not charging.
CUOMO: Yes!
BERNSTEIN: But also, to find out what the hell happened. And he has really done pretty well at it given the obstructive behavior of the President of the United States and those around him and the lying, et cetera, et cetera. We also still need to see the unredacted report. Obviously, there are some sections that are redacted for legitimate reasons of national security, disclosing sources and methods--
CUOMO: A lot of grand jury stuff in here that they should be able to get cleared.
BERNSTEIN: We need the grand jury material. This report already is the connective tissue that explains everything almost we've been reporting over the past two years. It’s here in substance, in nuance, in context and it is there for all people of good will in this country, if they are not so dug in politically or ideologically to process information and make some sophisticated judgments about the behavior of everybody I've mentioned here.
CUOMO: Sophisticated judgment is the operative phrase because I don't know how, in good conscience, if you have a dose of shame in you -- and you want to support the President, that is fine, stick to criminality. Stay away from the word collusion, because there is a ton of collusion. There is a ton of clever secretive behavior and Mueller lays it all out. The idea that there is nothing in here or that it was a witch hunt or this is a hoax, I don't know how they make that case in good conscious anymore. Carl, tell me how.
BERNSTEIN: I don't either. And it goes back to something my colleague Bob Woodward wrote in his book about this president and the reason why Mattis, McMaster, Tillerson, others left serving this President, because they believed he is not capable of serving the national interests of the United States, not capable -- in fact a danger to the national security of the United States. And that, too, comes through this report.
So you have to ask, at a certain point, when does a political party become beholden so much to a kind of self-interest of one man that it abandons its own principles about putting the country first in terms of what our system of law has always been about in this country. This is an opportunity, a real, smart, able Republicans and reads this report. I think they can make some sophisticated judgments about their President. It is not pretty. It is an ugly, damning piece of business.
CUOMO: Carl Bernstein, thank you very much.
