CNN’s The Situation Room continued on Wednesday the liberal media narrative to condemn any questioning of the FBI and Mueller investigation, deeming it the sort of thing meant to confuse and permanently “discredit” institutions that occur in authoritarian regimes like Russia and Turkey.
CBS correspondent and CNN contributor Bianna Goldodryga seemed to knock the ability of news consumers to walk and chew gum at the same time, declaring that she and her media cohorts are “pretty read in on this from a day-to-day basis” but “imagine the average American at home, constantly hearing about this infighting within these investigations and these committees.”
“I mean, it becomes very confusing, and at the end of the day, it knocks credibility,” she complained in reference to the FBI.
CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger obviously agreed, arguing that “the game here is to try to discredit the Mueller investigation before the Mueller investigation comes out with anything, to discredit the FBI, to discredit the people who are trying to get to the bottom of all of this.”
It’s safe to say that Mueller should be allowed to complete his investigation as Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy (S.C.) and many others have noted, but this almost erotic hero worship of Mueller is getting a little old. Whether it be a group or individual, hero worship usually doesn’t end well. And, yes, the supposed “secret society” turned out to be an embarrassing nothingburger for Republicans, but that still shouldn't remove any ability to ask questions or demand oversight.
Former Obama official and intelligence analyst Susan Hennessey opined that “what we’re really seeing” from Republicans “is sort of a spaghetti on the wall approach” in hopes of “discrediting anything that that investigation is going to put out from the outset.”
Golodryga closed the segment by dropping a pathetic claim about questioning non-partisan agencies being the sort of behavior that's seen in Russia and Turkey:
And it's so short-sighted to knock these institutions, assuming that they will be sound in years to come. I mean, ask the people of Turkey, ask the people of Russia what happens when a dictator or president tries to undermine what's supposed to be independent organizations...You do this enough and you're going to have people really question their integrity going forward as an organization.
She has a record of liberal bias and is married to Obama Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag, so these attempts to undermine the Trump presidency and conversely trust the FBI no matter what aren’t surprising.
Here’s the relevant transcript from CNN’s The Situation Room on January 24:
CNN’s The Situation Room
January 24, 2018
5:41 p.m. Eastern
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: Well, Wolf, we're pretty read in on this from a day-to-day basis. Imagine the average American at home, constantly hearing about this infighting within these investigations and these committees. I mean, it becomes very confusing, and at the end of the day, it knocks credibility, I would say, from both investigations, from the Senate and the House and it must be very frustrating for Burr who, by the way, was a surrogate for Donald Trump, really campaigned with him, but really has tried to strike an independent tone here and tried to be as nonpartisan as possible in this investigation. Remember, we got word that the President over the summer, last summer, had — had suggested to him to wrap this investigation as quickly as possible. That really irritated Burr and so I think to continue this sort of infighting amongst Democrats and Republicans is really stressful for him as far as whatever they'll come up with and their ultimate investigation will lead them and puts more pressure on Mueller, who may be the only one who can come out with some sort of impartial, one would hope, conclusion to this investigation.
GLORIA BORGER: Well, the game here is to try to discredit the Mueller investigation before the Mueller investigation comes out with anything, to discredit the FBI, to discredit the people who are trying to get to the bottom of all of this. And I think that you muddy the waters, then, before Mueller does anything and therefore, you're prepared, in case Mueller says, in fact, that the President did something wrong or in fact, the people in his campaign did something wrong or that there was obstruction. And you're — so you know, it's kind of like a prebuttal in politics. You know, you get out there and you say: “No matter what happens, this guy, you just — you just can't trust him.”
COATES: Which is odd because, if that's the case, and Mueller presumably comes out with nothing, then you've said that it's even not credible there —
BORGER: Exactly.
COATES: — and so you can't believe that there was —
BORGER: Well, you can flip. You can flip-flop.
COATES: — nothing there. Yeah, you can spin that in a way, that we think that it's a logical fallacy to say that he can never be entrusted, and the results are always going to be wrong because if it turns out that the results, which what you actually want to have happen, you've undermined your own argument.
(....)
HENNESSEY: You know, I think what we're really seeing is sort of a spaghetti on the wall approach. I think Gloria is right. This really isn't about even necessarily laying the predicate to fire Mueller. It's about discrediting anything that that investigation is going to put out from the outset. You know, really, what we're seeing is just kind of any possible scandal. Anything from unmasking to this memo to the sort of — the secret society. Throwing it out there. You know, seeing what sticks and we're really in sort of a perpetual cycle here.
GOLODRYGA: And it's so short-sighted to knock these institutions, assuming that they will be sound in years to come. I mean, ask the people of Turkey, ask the people of Russia what happens when a dictator or president tries to undermine what's supposed to be independent organizations. You keep talking about the questioning of the FBI and FBI agents and people within the FBI and whether or not they're partisan. You do this enough and you're going to have people really question their integrity going forward as an organization.
