Former Navy SEAL (Sea, Air and Land) officer Carl Higbie defended Donald Trump even though he was surrounded by critics of the Republican president during a discussion that quickly turned into a hostile debate on CNN International's State of America with Kate Bolduan on Tuesday.
According to the staff at the Washington Free Beacon, the angry exchange started after liberal host Kate Bolduan turned to the staunch Trump supporter: “Carl, you’ve been involved with classified information. You are a Navy SEAL. You’ve fought for this country.”
She then stated: “When you hear that this information is highly classified, has been handed over to Russian diplomats in the Oval Office, classified information that was so sensitive it hasn’t even been widely seen within the U.S. government, let alone allies … .”
At that point, Higbie jumped into the conversation by declaring:
Right, I've been sitting here very quietly listening to all this BS, quite frankly. Did you listen to anything [White House National Security Adviser H. R.] McMaster said today, where he said: “I was in the room, that didn't happen, nothing inappropriate was shared?”
You’re basing all these allegations off of one or maybe two sources when CNN reports: “Two former officials knowledgeable of the situation confirmed to CNN the main points of the story.”
Bolduan responded by using the "everybody's doing it" excuse.
“It’s not just CNN,” she noted. “It’s the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC.”
“Yeah, but who are the sources? ”Higbie repeated. “Oh,” we don’t know “because they’re hiding in anonymity. That’s what we’re seeing.”
"Please!” the host growled. “Do not even start with me that you're just going to attack sources. That is ridiculous.”
"OK, so you're saying McMaster is lying," the former SEAL replied.
“I’m not saying McMaster is lying. He didn’t answer the question,” she snarled. “That’s his opinion. We have anonymous sources, we protect them for real reasons, so the information that is important to the public can get out."
“Do not attack these stellar reporters of CNN and their sources,” she added.
“Tell these stellar reporters at CNN I am going to attack right now,” Higbie responded, “and say: ‘Guess what? I’m not going to believe them because their names [are] staying anonymous. If they stand behind the story, come out, face the cameras.’”
“All we have been doing is face the cameras,” Bolduan responded angrily.
But what about “the people who were in that room?” he fired back.
“Seriously?” fellow panelist Kirsten Powers asked. “So Watergate just was a lie because it was from anonymous sources?”
However, Powers neglected to mention the televised Senate hearings where real people testified openly on national television about what they knew.
After that question, liberal co-panelist Keith Boykin hammered Higbie by stating: “Carl, you really are embarrassing yourself, your party and your country. You should not be doing this. You’re a better person than this. I’m ashamed for you.”
Perhaps Boykin should also have been ashamed that the panel was packed with four liberals against one conservative. So much for CNN even attempting to be “fair and balanced.”
