CNN might want to change its name to Collusion Narrative Network; as the network’s morning program New Day spent nearly all of its three-hour time slot Thursday morning discussing the latest developments in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Of course, many in the media desperately want to believe that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians in order to secure his upset victory.
The hosts of New Day seemed particularly troubled about the likely release of a classified memo that documents alleged surveillance abuses by the FBI. Co-host Chris Cuomo asked Rep. Peter King (R-NY), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, for his thoughts on the memo. King finds himself among a select few members of Congress who has actually read the memo. As King explained that some facts had to be withheld or redacted from the memo due to national security reasons, Cuomo accused the Republicans of “cherry-picking” the facts, causing King to call out Cuomo for “showing his bias.”
Later in the interview, Cuomo tried to assure King and the audience that he did not have a bias. Based on New Day’s hysterical coverage of the Russia investigation, all fair-minded Americans should disagree with his statement.
The House Intelligence Committee voted Monday night to release the memo in spite of objections. President Trump now has seven days to authorize the release of the memo and all indications show that the President supports the release of a memo, especially after a hot mic caught the President telling Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) that he intends to release the memo at the State of the Union Tuesday night.
Expect the media to lose their collective mind upon the release of the memo, regardless of its contents. It seems so out of character for the media to care so much preservation of classified information, especially considering how little interest they showed in Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server to exchange classified information. The media will continue to salivate over the Russia story for the foreseeable future as they seek to undermine the Trump presidency.
Read the full transcript:
CHRIS CUOMO: So he has problems with the facts in the memo.
REP. PETER KING: And I’m telling you that our – no, no, no, he doesn’t dispute them. He says more should be in...Anyone can say that in any report. When you’re putting a report together and also making it, doing it in a way so you’re not going to hurt national security, obviously not every fact is going to be in. Every book that’s written doesn’t include every citation, every quote that everyone’s ever said.
CUOMO: If you cherry-pick facts – why else would Trump’s guys...these are his guys!
KING: Chris, that’s your word...Chris, Chris, your word is cherry-pick again. You’re showing your bias, which your network has had all along. I understand that, don’t pretend like you’re Mr. Integrity and we’re not.
CUOMO: How is it a bias? If you don’t put all–hold on a second. I have you on because I trust you to give me the straight talk on this, Congressman. That’s why I have you here. If I didn’t trust you, you wouldn’t be here.
KING: I’m giving it to you straight. I’m giving to you straight. You’re using the term cherry-pick.
CUOMO: All right and here’s why. Okay, and then you can...
KING: Every relevant fact is in. Every relevant fact is in. Every relevant fact is in.
CUOMO: But that is a subjective standard.
KING: Absolutely.
CUOMO: The man whose name is on the memo was investigated for potential ethics violations because of his deference to the White House and his collusion with The White House in the true sense of that word.
KING: Okay, let’s stop right there. Let’s stop right there. Let’s stop right there. And he was cleared completely. A complaint was filed against him by partisan Democrats. He was fully investigated and totally cleared. He was exonerated. Don’t you believe in our system of justice? He was exonerated.
CUOMO: I, I do but it doesn’t mean it’s not relevant to his position. He won’t answer the question now of whether or not his staff worked with the White House. What about that?
KING: I’m, I’m telling you that Devin Nunes, again so to avoid controversy, he took himself out of it and gave it to Trey Gowdy, a seasoned Federal prosecutor.
CUOMO: Understood.
KING: Who, by the way, and nobody...who 100 percent supports Bob Mueller. He supports Bob Mueller 100 percent. So Gowdy is not an anti-Mueller guy.
CUOMO: Okay, understood.
KING: He is the one who wrote this report, primarily, with the two investigators.
CUOMO: Understood. Nunes won’t answer the question of whether or not his staff worked with the White House on this memo. Why, if he’s Mr. I want to avoid further controversy?
KING: As to what you discussed publicly, the fact is the White House had no...had never saw this memo until Tuesday...
CUOMO: Why won’t he answer the question?
KING: Monday night we had....I’m telling you right now. I’m answering the question for you.
CUOMO: But why didn’t he answer it?
KING: I’m saying that the investigators...Again, we’re in a public session, that can lead to other questions which can involve national security. I’m telling you what happened.
CUOMO: Go ahead.
KING: I’m telling you...the first time the White House saw it, is we had our people officially deliver it to White House counsels and the national security lawyers on Monday night at the White House. That’s the first time they saw it and that’s the first time the White House saw it. As far as, if anyone’s going to the White House to influence...if the account is true that Rosenstein went to the President and went to the Speaker of the House to get them to interfere with our investigation, that to me is a violation.
CUOMO: All right, so Christopher Wray, picked by the President of the United States to be a cleansing agent. Rod Rosenstein, his choice to be at the DOJ, the man he leaned on in his case against Comey. Stephen Boyd, another man picked by Trump to be one of his own, they all come to him and say this is reckless, dangerous, the wrong thing to do. Why would they all go against the man who picked them if they didn’t have real concerns?
KING: I have...am aware of their concerns. I don’t believe them. I think they’re invalid concerns.
CUOMO: But why...how can you not believe them?
KING: But I’m telling you...I’ve been working on this. Chris, I’ve been following this for eighteen months. I’ve been following, I’ve seen all of the leaks that come out of the Justice Department, which nobody is investigating, criminal leaks coming out of the Justice Department against this President. False information given to the New York Times that goes on the front page. None of that has been investigated by the Justice Department. And I’m telling you that, what is going to come out in the memo, and I told you yesterday when I saw you on the plane, this is...I’m not one of these people that said this is going to shake the world, this is not going to turn things upside down. It’s a very significant...
CUOMO: Steve King told me last night that it’s worse than Watergate. I said, “Have you seen the supporting information, the fact basis?” No. Have you seen the FISA application that you guys were saying was done wrong? No. Worse than Watergate?
KING: I’m not saying that. I’m telling you what I’ve said. I’m speaking for myself and I also, think I speak for Trey Gowdy, who made these points the other day. There are too many Republicans who overstate the case. I’m not doing that. I’m very precise. I take this stuff very seriously. I was only one of two Republicans that voted against Bill Clinton’s impeachment. I was the only Republican who voted against Charlie Rangel being censured on the House floor because of my respect for due process and...I stood with your brother against the entire Republican leadership as far as trying to get aid to New York and it almost got me thrown out of the party. So, I, I take this very, very seriously. I’m telling you, what I’ve seen over the last eighteen months is wrong.
CUOMO: Congressman, I appreciate it. Look, I appreciate it. That’s why I come to you in these situations, that’s why I came to you yesterday for counsel on, on the situation. I, however, give you no cover for making a decision to align yourself with my brother. That’s your problem. You deal with that on your own time. Here, I’m dealing with this bigger issue of...here, here is my last question for you on this. You know what the concern is.
KING: Sure.
CUOMO: Nobody has any interest in protecting the FBI. I am in the media. I’ve spent most of my career looking at the FBI and what they do with a suspicious eye. The left, as you know, is known for going at the FBI in terms of its choices and its methods. So, it’s not about me being biased. I’m saying cherry-picked because that’s what you’re hearing from Trump’s own guys who came to him about it, about their concerns about this. It’s not about a bias. Everybody wants the truth to come out. I want, we want the memo, we’re journalists. I want to see where you guys are coming from on this but to go around the IC, here’s the concern, Congressman. In the last couple of days, you’ve had two different Republican Congress people or former members come out and say, “You know what happened to me?” It was politically motivated. This deep state stuff. Menendez gets cleared, the reaction from some on the right. This is that deep state stuff. What’s going to happen when Mueller comes out with his conclusions and all of this groundwork has been laid to give people an ability to say, “You can’t believe him.” Then what happens to the administration of justice in this country?
