Just as the liberal broadcast networks did Monday evening, CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta batted away an interview Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did with TIME magazine, in which he stated he did not approach his conversation with President Trump “from the position of a quid pro quo.” Despite that fact, Acosta treated the development as some kind of unimportant statement Trump was “seizing on.”
“The President will be spending the week meeting with NATO leaders here in London. But he’s also latching onto comments made this week by the leader of Ukraine saying, that those comments really exonerate him in this impeachment process. But that's not really the case,” Acosta scoffed as he began his report.
Continuing on during the video portion of his report, Acosta suggested that the President was “scrambling for a headline that will help him,” so he was now “seizing on comments made by the leader of Ukraine about their infamous July 25th phone call.”
He followed that up with this soundbite of Trump outside the White House:
If you noticed, there was breaking news today, the Ukrainian President came out and said very strongly that President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong. That should be case over. But he just came out a little while ago and said President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong, and that should end everything.
“That's not quite what the Ukrainian President said,” Acosta pompously declared. “As he complained to TIME magazine, he believed President Trump wasn't exactly treating him like a true ally when the U.S. Held up military aid to his country.”
Acosta read from Zelensky’s statement: “Stating, ‘Look, I never talked to the President from a position of a quid pro quo. I don't want us to look like beggars. But you have to understand. We're at war. If you're our strategic partner, then you can't go blocking anything for us. I think that's about fairness.’”
Later on in his report, Acosta also continued CNN's smear campaign against Republican Senator John Kennedy (LA) to make him look like a stooge of Russia.
Being arguably less than amicable to an ally with a newly elected president and a known history of corruption was a flimsy foundation to build the impeachment case on. That’s why the liberal media and left will downplay, deflect, and ignore Zelensky’s comments
The “seize on” narrative had become a staple for liberal media reporting in the age of Trump. In that, the reaction from the GOP or Trump to a major development in their favor (or against the Democrats) was more the focus of the story than the good news itself.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Situation Room
December 2, 2019
6:05:32 p.m. Eastern(…)
JIM ACOSTA: The President will be spending the week meeting with NATO leaders here in London. But he’s also latching onto comments made this week by the leader of Ukraine saying, that those comments really exonerate him in this impeachment process. But that's not really the case.
[Cuts to video]
(…)
ACOSTA: Scrambling for a headline that will help him, the President is seizing on comments made by the leader of Ukraine about their infamous July 25th phone call.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If you noticed, there was breaking news today, the Ukrainian President came out and said very strongly that President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong. That should be case over. But he just came out a little while ago and said President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong, and that should end everything.
ACOSTA: That's not quite what the Ukrainian President said. As he complained to TIME magazine, he believed President Trump wasn't exactly treating him like a true ally when the U.S. Held up military aid to his country.
Stating, “Look, I never talked to the President from a position of a quid pro quo. I don't want us to look like beggars. But you have to understand. We're at war. If you're our strategic partner, then you can't go blocking anything for us. I think that's about fairness.”
(…)
