As ABC News was wrapping up the politics segment of Sunday’s Good Morning America, co-anchor Dan Harris and chief anchor George Stephanopoulos shared their deep-seated fears of how President Trump would govern after his likely impeachment acquittal on Wednesday. “Assuming that he is acquitted, which it looks like he certainly will be, what kind of impact do you think that will have on his governing style and his campaign style,” Harris wondered.
“He may feel completely vindicated and unleashed in the wake of this,” Stephanopoulos warned viewers.
According to the Clinton lackey, “in the past, whenever the President's kind of escaped an issue, he's doubled down, remember just a day after the Mueller testimony back in July of 2019 was the day he made that phone call to the Ukrainian president.”
Of course, the liberal media refused to acknowledge that the Mueller investigation no evidence of collusion with Russia, and continued to suggest Russia was the reason Trump was elected. That, despite the fact the Justice Department inspector general found investigators had deceived the FISA courts. Again, it was an inconvenient truth the media downplayed.
Stephanopoulos had more to say. Almost vowing to not let it go, he declared Trump “has not escaped this issue”:
On the other hand, this story is not, is not over. We’re still waiting to hear from John Bolton. We found out just late on Friday night at midnight that the Justice Department was holding back 24 e-mails that indicated the President's thinking on this matter. You can bet that the Democrats are going to make an issue of this going into the election.
What kind of impact that will have is uncertain. But the President has not escaped this issue. And one final point on that, the Southern District of New York is still investigating his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, for his involvement in this matter.
“A lot of shoes potentially to drop from this centipede,” Harris concluded with that tired out analogy.
Shortly before he asked that final question, Harris wanted to know what we could expect from the President’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. Their fret was about how Trump would talk about impeachment.
“And I think it's pretty unlikely to imagine that he's going to go through the whole speech without mentioning it or alluding to it in any way in the way that Bill Clinton did back in 1999,” Stephanopoulos remarked.
He was also concerned that Trump would accurately call out the Democratic Party as socialist:
The second thing to watch for, since this is going to be coming off the Iowa caucuses on Monday night, how does he address that? Remember last year's State of the Union, he kind of took on the idea of Democrats being socialist, which is a pretty clear shot at Bernie Sanders. If Bernie does well on Monday night, will we see that again from the President? I think those are the two big things to watch for.
Given how Sanders was leading in Iowa, according to polls, a win for the Senator the day before the address would lend obvious weight to the charge.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
February 2, 2020
8:12:25 a.m. Eastern(…)
DAN HARRIS: Let's talk about the State of the Union, which is going to happen the next day, is this -- I would imagine this both an opportunity for the President and also a little bit of a tricky moment.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Biggest opportunity of the year, he has an unparalleled audience for as much time as he wants to take on Tuesday night. I think one of the biggest questions, as David just alluded to is, how does he deal with impeachment?
And I think it's pretty unlikely to imagine that he's going to go through the whole speech without mentioning it or alluding to it in any way in the way that Bill Clinton did back in 1999. That would be a surprise. If he did.
The second thing to watch for, since this is going to be coming off the Iowa caucuses on Monday night, how does he address that? Remember last year's State of the Union, he kind of took on the idea of Democrats being socialist, which is a pretty clear shot at Bernie Sanders. If Bernie does well on Monday night, will we see that again from the President? I think those are the two big things to watch for.
HARRIS: We'll be speaking before the vote on Wednesday, when the senators are expected to acquit him on these charges that have been brought up in the impeachment process. Assuming that he is acquitted, which it looks like he certainly will be, what kind of impact do you think that will have on his governing style and his campaign style?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, that's a big, big question. You know, again, let's see if he talks about on Tuesday night. Number two, in the past, whenever the President's kind of escaped an issue, he's doubled down, remember just a day after the Mueller testimony back in July of 2019 was the day he made that phone call to the Ukrainian president. He may feel completely vindicated and unleashed in the wake of this.
On the other hand, this story is not, is not over. We’re still waiting to hear from John Bolton. We found out just late on Friday night at midnight that the Justice Department was holding back 24 e-mails that indicated the President's thinking on this matter. You can bet that the Democrats are going to make an issue of this going into the election.
What kind of impact that will have is uncertain. But the President has not escaped this issue. And one final point on that, the Southern District of New York is still investigating his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, for his involvement in this matter.
HARRIS: A lot of shoes potentially to drop from this centipede.
