Immediately following a Tuesday address by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announcing Democrats were moving forward with the impeachment process against President Trump, CNN's The Situation Room panel praised it as a truly “historic” moment. They even went so far as to reassure their tiny audience that the Speaker understood the “utmost gravity” of the situation the country was in, and to not get discouraged by the “circus-like atmosphere” that was to come.
Moments after Pelosi wrapped up her announcement to the eagerly awaiting liberal media, host Wolf Blitzer declared it a “very important historic announcement.” “[S]he repeatedly suggested there were violations of law, there was violations of the constitution, and as a result, it justifies the beginning of a new phase in this entire impeachment potential process,” he added.
The first panelist Blitzer leaned on was chief political correspondent Dana Bash, who wasted no time in gushing about Pelosi’s delivery:
The fact that she gave a preamble about her experience on the Intelligence Committees, that she comes at this not just from understanding the law, how things are supposed to work, but then, of course, talking about it in very big, very sweeping terms about the constitution of the United States.
“It's really hard to overstate how historic this is,” Bash proclaimed. “[I]t's barely one hand that you can count on how many times this has happened and it is a last resort. The House Democrats feel that they have reached that last resort and there has been so much pressure on her.”
CNN political director David Chalian went next and he was clearly enamored by the Speaker’s impeachment announcement, suggesting she “captured so brilliantly the moment we're in, which is a moment of, quote, ‘utmost gravity.’”
“That's what she described as the congressional responsibility if, indeed, it comes to passing articles of impeachment. Utmost gravity. And that's the moment that the country finds itself in,” he continued to gush.
He then stepped up to warn CNN’s tiny audience that they might get turned off by politics as the “spin machines” consume “all the political oxygen” and it becomes a “circus-like atmosphere.” But he reassured them that Pelosi and the Democrats understood how important “this moment of gravity” was (click “expand”):
But that should not be – that should not undermine what this moment of gravity is for the country. This is those foundational principles of the forming of our country, that whole notion of checks and balances, of co-equal branches. That's what's being tested here and what Speaker Pelosi says, yes, violation of law, but it's not just a violation of law. It is a breach of the president's constitutional responsibilities.
That combination is what brings the House Democratic caucus to this moment of utmost gravity and what puts the country in a time that doesn't have much historical precedent, and we know how fraught these times are politically. Putting this divisive, very sobering impeachment process front and center now in these extraordinary divisive times of where we are already. That in and of itself is going be uncharted territory.
Trump’s impeachment had literally been something CNN and the rest of the liberal media have been calling for since he was elected president. Now, they can barely contain their excitement.
This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Situation Room
September 24, 2019
5:06:52 p.m. EasternWOLF BLITZER: Very important historic announcement from the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announcing today the opening of what she calls an official impeachment inquiry into the President of the United States, as she repeatedly suggested there were violations of law, there was violations of the constitution, and as a result it justifies the beginning of a new phase in this entire impeachment potential process.
(…)
5:09:53 p.m. Eastern
BLITZER: Dana, you’ve been doing a lot of reporting on this. She also said no one is above the law, referring to the president of the United States and what he was doing was a betrayal of the constitution.
DANA BASH: The fact that she gave a preamble about her experience on the Intelligence Committees, that she comes at this not just from understanding the law, how things are supposed to work, but then, of course, talking about it in very big, very sweeping terms about the constitution of the United States.
It's really hard to overstate how historic this is. As Manu said, you can’t even -- it's barely one hand that you can count on how many times this has happened and it is a last resort. The House Democrats feel that they have reached that last resort and there has been so much pressure on her. She has resisted for so long since they took the majority from many people in the base, who have been saying, “come on already. We gave you the majority. Why aren't you using it?”
Now she says she has seen an issue that she believes the American public understands and should be outraged by, because her number one concern has been I can't do this until I have the public behind me. She sees some public sentiment but she’s trying to marry that by pushing out her rank and file to support what she has now, reluctantly gotten behind which is an impeachment inquiry.
BLITZER: A significant moment. David Chalian, you've been looking into the history of what we're seeing unfold right now.
DAVID CHALIAN: Yeah, I mean, if you include Nixon who wasn't eventually formally impeached, this is the fourth time in history that a president has really faced the very serious threat of impeachment, Wolf.
But, I just want to go to Speaker Pelosi's words here because I think she captured so brilliantly the moment we're in, which is a moment of, quote, “utmost gravity.” That's what she described as the congressional responsibility if, indeed, it comes to passing articles of impeachment. Utmost gravity. And that's the moment that the country finds itself in.
I know how hard it is for people to sit at home and see this and say, “oh, this is the latest back and forth with Republicans, the Democrats decided to impeach today and President Trump is going to fight back.” And we have days ahead of us that that will be the case. The spin machines on both sides will go into overdrive. This will become something that consumes all the political oxygen. The presidential campaign will probably move to the sidelines just a bit. This is going to be a circus-like atmosphere because that is what we've seen in our history.
But that should not be – that should not undermine what this moment of gravity is for the country. This is those foundational principles of the forming of our country, that whole notion of checks and balances, of co-equal branches. That's what's being tested here and what Speaker Pelosi says, yes, violation of law, but it's not just a violation of law. It is a breach of the president's constitutional responsibilities.
That combination is what brings the House Democratic caucus to this moment of utmost gravity and what puts the country in a time that doesn't have much historical precedent, and we know how fraught these times are politically. Putting this divisive, very sobering impeachment process front and center now in these extraordinary divisive times of where we are already. That in and of itself is going be uncharted territory.
(…)
