From the get-go Wednesday, CNN host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo telegraphed that he wasn’t going to take his interview with disgraced, former FBI agent Peter Strzok seriously. “They were the text messages that launched everything from conspiracy theories to congressional investigations. Not to mention more than 50 presidential tweets and countless hours of programming on state TV, a.k.a. Fox,” he mocked.
Of course, he would! Strzok was there to peddle his anti-Trump book alleging Russian collusion, something the FBI investigation didn’t find.
Fredo didn’t get to those text messages until the end of the interview. “As you are well aware, I don't report on people’s personal lives. I’ve never had any interest in you and Lisa Page and what was going on personally,” he told his guest.
He refused to go into their contents because he would have to mention how Strzok had promised Page that he and his team would stop then-candidate Donald Trump from getting elected, and the “insurance policy” he said he had once Trump won.
What Cuomo wanted to know was how haunted he was by the texts shared by the President’s defenders:
I do want to ask you though, from a personal perspective. How haunted are you that those text messages loom so large in the defense of the supporters of Donald Trump and Donald Trump himself. That they relied on that as proof that everything else had to be false? How does that haunt?
What kind of question is that?
It was designed to tee up Strzok to romanticize and lie about the work his team did in investigating the Trump campaign. “Things that I did, things that all the people around me did, whether inspector general, U.S. attorneys, and Congress conclusively determine that all the time we were doing an objective, good job for the American people,” he proclaimed.
He added: “So, while I carry a significant amount of regret, I know that we did a good job. That we did the right job for the right reasons. And it’s something America can be proud of.” Cuomo laughably replied: “I appreciate you not ducking the question.”
Back in reality, former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was the first investigator to face justice from the probe being headed by federal prosecutor John Durham. Last month, Clinesmith pleaded guilty to falsifying documents sent to federal judges to receiva multiple FISA warrants for onetime Trump campaign staffer Carter Page.
That doesn’t sound at all like what Strzok said, but Fredo didn’t care.
At another point in the interview, Strzok freely claimed: “I have not seen anything that reassures me that there is a whole-of-government approach going on to combat the threat [from Russian election meddling].” As Daily Caller reporter Chuck Ross pointed out on Twitter, “How would he know, he was fired 2 years ago and worked in HR for a year before that[.]”
That’s not to mention that the duo dismissed the threat posed by leftist extremists around the country and claimed, without evidence, that “right-wing” extremism was the bigger problem (Click “expand”):
CUOMO: What good reason -- you're right. The plain answer there is that you don't like it and you think it plays to your advantage. But what's the reason to sit on the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists? Same thing? That here's some kind of perverse belief that leaving them alone may be good for you?
STRZOK: Look, I haven't read the report. So, I don't know what's in it or what is says. But, I can say this, when you look at the some of the statements coming out of the Department of Justice, it's clear that the range of domestic activity that’s going on spans the gamut from a variety of actors; from right-wing or white supremacists type actors to all the way over Antifa and other elements that span the political gamut.
What has been shown time and time again, are that the most violent elements within these various groups historically, provably have been from various right-wing elements, not from the left.
So, you have to ask yourself when you hear the repeated drum beat about Antifa and others, is that based on fact and what we have seen, or is that based on a political agenda based on what the President perceives is going to help him in his reelection?
“Yeah, I believe we should just take down bad guys wherever you find them. If they’re people saying they’re Antifa and they’re creating crimes, go after them,” Cuomo proclaimed. But that rang hollow since Fredo had a long and well-documented affinity for the terrorist group, even comparing them to U.S. soldiers on D-Day.
This manipulation of the facts was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Coventry Direct and HomeAdvisor. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they’re funding.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo PrimeTime
September 9, 2020
9:48:28 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: They were the text messages that launched everything from conspiracy theories to congressional investigations. Not to mention more than 50 presidential tweets and countless hours of programming on state TV, a.k.a. Fox. Now, Peter Strzok is telling his story in a new book called, Compromised Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump.
Welcome to prime time.
PETER STRZOK: Chris, it's great to be here.
CUOMO: So, let's deal with the order of the moment. Okay? Because contextually within your book, this is why you're warning people in the book anyway, because of the situation exactly like the two we have today.
One, the Russian intelligence report. Do you believe Murphy, that Wolf and Cuccinelli would say to him, “Listen, this stuff's got to be tailored to what Trump is saying, don't go outside the lines on this, we have to be on message?”
STRZOK: Chris, I recruited spies and supervised counterintelligence investigations for over 20 years. And not once in that time was I told, “Don’t report this intelligence, ignore what you're seeing.”
Now, I haven't seen those reports, but what's critical to understand, in the context of this new information, the administration itself has already said Russia is actively interfering with our elections right now, and they're aiming to help Donald Trump get re-elected. This is his administration who said that. Now, if you take that comment in the context of these new allegations, the fact that they would be seeking to not only ignore but outright suppress intelligence that would tend to corroborate information, that’s stunning to me.
(…)
CUOMO: What good reason -- you're right. The plain answer there is that you don't like it and you think it plays to your advantage. But what's the reason to sit on the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists? Same thing? That here's some kind of perverse belief that leaving them alone may be good for you?
STRZOK: Look, I haven't read the report. So, I don't know what's in it or what is says. But, I can say this, when you look at the some of the statements coming out of the Department of Justice, it's clear that the range of domestic activity that’s going on spans the gamut from a variety of actors; from right-wing or white supremacists type actors to all the way over Antifa and other elements that span the political gamut.
What has been shown time and time again, are that the most violent elements within these various groups historically, provably have been from various right-wing elements, not from the left.
So, you have to ask yourself when you hear the repeated drum beat about Antifa and others, is that based on fact and what we have seen, or is that based on a political agenda based on what the President perceives is going to help him in his reelection?
CUOMO: Yeah, I believe we should just take down bad guys wherever you find them. If they’re people saying they’re Antifa and they’re creating crimes, go after them. You got people who are white nationalists who are running around trying to shoot and kill people, go after them.
Two more things. One, how do we sit in this election in terms of what we’ve done to keep Russia's efforts minimized compared to the last time? Are we in better, same, worse position?
STRZOK: Chris, we’re at a worse spot. I have not seen anything that reassures me that there is a whole-of-government approach going on to combat the threat.
(…)
CUOMO: One personal thing that people have to get more context on in the book. As you are well aware, I don't report on people’s personal lives. I’ve never had any interest in you and Lisa Page and what was going on personally.
I do want to ask you though, from a personal perspective. How haunted are you that those text messages loom so large in the defense of the supporters of Donald Trump and Donald Trump himself. That they relied on that as proof that everything else had to be false? How does that haunt?
STRZOK: Chris look, I understand that question and I regret. I will always regret those texts and the way they were used. And relate to the worse mistake of my life.
Having said that, I do also understand the enormity of the way that those have impacting just my personal life, the professional life, the work of the FBI. But I can tell you this, and I would tell all your viewers, repeated looks at everything the bureau did. Things that I did, things that all the people around me did, whether inspector general, U.S. attorneys, and Congress conclusively determine that all the time we were doing an objective, good job for the American people.
So, while I carry a significant amount of regret, I know that we did a good job. That we did the right job for the right reasons. And it’s something America can be proud of.
CUOMO: I appreciate you not ducking the question.
