The network that catapulted “gaslighting” into our vernacular has been blowing a lot of hot air since the release of the DOJ inspector general report on the origins of the Russia investigation on Tuesday. Immediately following its release, the public understood that the FBI had lied to the FISA court to get surveillance warrants to spy on Trump campaign aides. Despite those facts, CNN’s Chris “Fredo” Cuomo filled the “facts first” segment of Cuomo Prime Time with assertions there was no spying.
“Trump is the victim. All right. That was what was promised from this IG's report,” he bitterly declared as if he was about to take down the claim, walking over to a table with printed out reports stacked on it. “476 pages, no Trump as victim. Trump even says that that's what this says. It doesn't. He's lying to you about the report,” he shouted as he angrily pounded his finger on the IG report.
He pleaded with his audience: “Please do yourself the favor, do the homework. He's lying to you. You can discover it if you want.” What came next was a string of falsehoods that proved he and CNN were out to craft their own false reality, to gaslight their audience:
Just like there was no proof of him being a victim in the 568-page report that the IG put out in June of last year, even though they told you it would. It wasn't there in the 412-pages of the declassified Carter Page FISA application. There were mistakes, but he was no victim. The 83-pages that examined James Comey’s behavior. The 39-page report that examined Andrew McCabe. This President and his attorney general are distorting fact and playing with the system.
In the proper reality, the Carter Page FISA application was awash with lies, manipulated information, and hidden sources and agendas. And the IG report exposed that. Those were the “mistakes” Cuomo alluded to but refused to go into detail about. The result was the FISA court granting warrants to spy on Trump campaign officials, even sending people into encounters wearing wires.
While CNN previously insisted that the FISA warrant against Page did not use the infamous and debunked Steele dossier, in a Senate hearing on Wednesday, IG Michael Horowitz confirmed that the warrant was “entirely” reliant on it. The report also showed that FBI investigators knew the dossier was bogus and presented it to the FISA court as a reliable source of information.
And about at “39-page report that examined Andrew McCabe” that Cuomo claimed showed no misconduct. That was the same report responsible for McCabe’s firing from the FBI because he lied to IG investigators about his leaking to the press. A criminal referral followed and was still being pursued. By the way, McCabe was also a CNN contributor.
“But the truth is just not that complicated,” Cuomo argued; but clearly, to him and CNN, the truth didn’t matter. “People around this President have been up to no good from the start. The institutions that are designed to catch that worked. The only question is, what should be the consequence.”
As he was wrapping up the segment, Fredo again purported “There is no proof of spying, zero, and we'll take you through it with an FBI vet who’s owed an apology by our President.” The FBI vet supposedly in need of an apology from Trump was McCabe.
Fact first? Yeah, right. This is CNN after all.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time
December 10, 2019
9:30:21 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: No disrespect, but I call the AG, Bill no holds Barr because he seems to be willing to say and do anything to protect this President. And that's not his job. And he knew that when we was trying to sell you that he could get the job.
WILLIAM BARR (then-nominee): I feel like I'm in a position in life where I can do the right thing and not really care about the consequences.
CUOMO: The right thing like discredit your agency, the Mueller probe, even your own inspector general? A man Barr himself described just last month as, quote, “a fiercely independent investigator, a superb investigator,” who has “conducted this particular investigation in the most professional way” he'll “be a credit to the department.” Really?
Yet, Barr, the same man who thought Ken Starr was being unfairly fused about when he overreached in Bill Clinton, he thought that was okay that Starr did that. He now thinks Mueller's efforts and the FBI’s were a sham.
BARR: I think our nation was turned on its head for three years. I think, based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by an irresponsible press.
CUOMO: Bogus narrative. Can it be that the AG actually doesn't think Russia should be singled out? The answer? Yup.
(…)
9:32:58 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: But more important for Mr. Barr apparently is to show that investigating this President and his pals for exactly that should be seen as bad. And he handpicked a prosecutor to investigate just that, and he calls the Russia probe thin justification.
Trump is the victim. All right. That was what was promised from this IG's report. 476 pages, no Trump as victim. Trump even says that that's what this says. It doesn't. He's lying to you about the report. Please do yourself the favor, do the homework. He's lying to you. You can discover it if you want.
Just like there was no proof of him being a victim in the 568-page report that the IG put out in June of last year, even though they told you it would. It wasn't there in the 412-pages of the declassified Carter Page FISA application. There were mistakes, but he was no victim. The 83-pages that examined James Comey’s behavior. The 39-page report that examined Andrew McCabe. This President and his attorney general are distorting fact and playing with the system.
But the truth is just not that complicated. People around this president have been up to no good from the start. The institutions that are designed to catch that worked. The only question is, what should be the consequence.
Now, the smears never stop. The President is still peddling lies tonight now about the FBI. Just a little.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: They spied on our campaign, okay. [Transition] Lives have been destroyed by scum, okay, by scum.
CUOMO: He calls the FBI scum. I never imagined a president and he just keeps disappointing. There is no proof of spying, zero, and we'll take you through it with an FBI vet who’s owed an apology by our President. Next. [Andrew McCabe]
