CNN Tonight host Don Lemon has been prone to meltdowns over the latest Trump controversy, so Monday’s news concerning the Mueller probe, Michael Cohen, and Syria were bound to set the liberal journalist off and he certainly did over the “historic” and “unbelievable” day that has America “on the brink.”
Following two hours of gabfests on CNN’s AC360, Lemon seemed exasperated when he appeared on camera at the top of the 10:00 p.m. Eastern hour.
“I can't — the magnitude of this day — it is unbelievable. It is historic. It is a moment when our country is on the brink — on the brink of what could turn into a constitutional crisis and potentially on the brink of military action in Syria,” an unsettled Lemon fretted.
He continued before the first soundbite from the President: “A furious President Trump, surrounded by grim-faced military leaders, in what was planned as a meeting about Syria, his arms folded as he gave the talk, blasting the FBI raid today on his personal attorney Michael Cohen.”
Lemon was still locked and loaded after the clip, stating as if he’s anything but a neutral journalist with not one ax to grind: “So let me be absolutely clear about this. The President is absolutely wrong. Nobody broke into Michael Cohen's office and nobody, not even the President, is above the law.”
Citing one anonymously-sourced Trump scoop after another, Lemon later took a jab at Trump’s body language when he spoke to reporters early Monday evening about Mueller:
Do you see the body language there? The Mueller investigation is not over. So the President is wrong, wrong when he claims they found no collusion and the fact is, Robert Mueller is a Republican, but sources warn the President's anger could lead to him firing Mueller.
Lemon wrapped up before bringing on the first of many panels to almost uniformly agree with his viewpoint by invoking CNN’s porography obsession with Tuesday’s New York Post cover featuring Stormy Daniels undressing herself as part of a strip club routine: “So these pictures say it all. The President outraged over the FBI raid on his attorney, while his favorite New York tabloid weighs in with the headline ‘Strip Search.’ There it is on your screen. New York Post: ‘Strip Search.’”
To see the relevant transcript from April 9's CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, click “expand.”
CNN Tonight with Don Lemon
April 9, 2018
10:00 p.m. Eastern
DON LEMON: I can't — the magnitude of this day — it is unbelievable. It is historic. It is a moment when our country is on the brink — on the brink of what could turn into a constitutional crisis and potentially on the brink of military action in Syria. A furious President Trump, surrounded by grim-faced military leaders, in what was planned as a meeting about Syria, his arms folded as he gave the talk, blasting the FBI raid today on his personal attorney Michael Cohen.
DONALD TRUMP: So I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys — a good man — and it's a disgraceful situation. It's a total witch hunt. I've been saying it for a long time. I've wanted to keep it down. We've given, I believe, over a million pages' worth of documents to the special counsel.
LEMON: So let me be absolutely clear about this. The President is absolutely wrong. Nobody broke into Michael Cohen's office and nobody, not even the President, is above the law. A dozen FBI agents armed with search warrants legally seized documents from Cohen's office, his hotel room, and reportedly his home. A source telling CNN those documents are related to — Stormy Daniels. Another source telling CNN the search warrant was very broad and included bank records, but ominously, President Trump views this as an attack on him and on the country. Sources telling CNN tonight that the Cohen raid — that Cohen raid sent the President over the edge, because his attorney is like a surrogate family member.
TRUMP: It's a disgrace. It's frankly a real disgrace. It's a — an attack on our country and it's an attack on what we all stand for. So when I saw this and when I heard it, I heard it like you did. I said, that is really now on a whole new level of unfairness.
LEMON: So he believes it's unfair and it's an attack on him and he believes it's politically motivated. Never mind that these are the facts. It's his own hand-picked Deputy Attorney General overseeing the Mueller investigation and today's raid was authorized by the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan who was hand-picked by guess who? President Trump.
TRUMP: They found no collusion whatsoever with Russia. The reason they found it is there was no collusion at all. No collusion. This is the most biased group of people. These people have the biggest conflicts of interest I've ever seen. Democrats all, just about all, the Democrats are a couple Republicans that worked for President Obama.
LEMON: Do you see the body language there? The Mueller investigation is not over. So the President is wrong, wrong when he claims they found no collusion and the fact is, Robert Mueller is a Republican, but sources warn the President's anger could lead to him firing Mueller.
TRUMP: Why don't I just fire Mueller?
JOHN DECKER: Yes, fire the guy.
TRUMP: Well, I think it's a disgrace what's going on. We'll see what happens, but I think it's a really a sad situation when you look at what happened and many people have said, you should fire him. Again, they found nothing and in finding nothing, that's a big statement.
LEMON: Remember the investigation is not over yet. They haven't found nothing and it's not just Mueller who could be on the President's sights tonight, in the President's sights tonight. A source says he may be even more angry at Rod Rosenstein and at Jeff Sessions.
TRUMP: The Attorney General made a terrible mistake when he did this and when he recused himself, or he should have certainly let us know if he was going to recuse himself, and we would have put a different attorney general in. So he made what I consider to be a very terrible mistake to the country, but you'll figure that out.
LEMON: So these pictures say it all. The President outraged over the FBI raid on his attorney, while his favorite New York tabloid weighs in with the headline “Strip Search.” There it is on your screen. New York Post: “Strip Search.”
