You know, for someone whose cable network has a mantra of “#FactsFirst,” CNN host Chris Cuomo has a really difficult time telling the truth. During Wednesday’s edition of Cuomo PrimeTime, he ran a segment he purported was to examine the 1982 calendar pages Judge Brett Kavanaugh submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee ahead of the hearing on Thursday. But Cuomo decided the lie and fabricate what the calendar showed and what it meant.
Cuomo began the segment by scoffing at the idea that Kavanaugh actually had calendars dating back to 1982, seemingly calling their validity into question. “How many of you have a calendar from 1982 just lying around,” he asked the audience. “I mean I think it's fascinating that he kept it all these years. Good thing for him that he did.”
The rambling CNN host then used the calendar to falsely suggest Kavanaugh was lying to the public about his old drinking habits:
He's blocked off “beach week.” Sound familiar? That's on his yearbook page listed as the “Beach Week Ralph Club – Biggest Contributor”. I don't know about you, but to me ralphing used to mean throwing up. Weird for a guy who says he never had any drinking to excess. Drunk to the point of vomiting and proud of it back then.
“Now the impression that he left after his Fox interview where he portrayed himself as the virginal teen focused on church and service projects,” Cuomo added.
Those assertions were bold-faced lies. In Kavanaugh’s Fox News interview, he made it clear that he did drink a lot and he did do stuff in high school he was embarrassed about. He even admitted to drinking heavily in his prepared remarks for the hearing.
“But I was not perfect in those days, just as I am not perfect today. I drank beer with my friends, usually on weekends. Sometimes I had too many,” he wrote. “In retrospect, I said and did things in high school that make me cringe now. But that's not why we are here today. What I've been accused of is far more serious than juvenile misbehavior.”
What Kavanaugh was addressing in the Fox News interview was an accusation that he would routinely get blackout drunk. As nearly any college student can tell you, there is a vast difference between getting really hammered and getting blackout drunk.
But those facts didn’t stop Cuomo and Don Lemon from putting words in Kavanaugh’s mouth and continuing to push the liberal media’s lie that Kavanaugh painted himself as a “choir boy.” “I also didn't see in the calendars over the summer, the three months or so that we looked at, of service projects that he says in the interview he was doing all along. What's my point,” Cuomo bloviated.
“I know what your point is. He's not the choir boy,” Lemon interrupted Cuomo. “But what's important about it is that it shows quite a difference in what he says he was in that interview.” But their radioactive hot takes had one major flaw: Kavanaugh never explicitly said he was doing service projects during the four months provided in the calendars.
According Kavanaugh’s Fox News interview (where Cuomo claims the contradictions were coming from), here's what he actually said: “When I was in high school – and I went to an all-boys Catholic high school, a Jesuit high school where I focused on academics, and athletics, going to church every Sunday at Little Flower, working on my service projects, and friendship.” The key phrase, “when I was in high school,” not specifically the summer of ’82.
Those were CNN lies. This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN's Cuomo Prime Time
September 26, 2018
9:51 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: How many of you have a calendar from 1982 just lying around? How many of you were even born in 1982? Judge Kavanaugh does, and he handed it over to the Senate Judiciary Committee. It's filled with really fascinating stuff. I mean I think it's fascinating that he kept it all these years. Good thing for him that he did.
Some typical kid stuff, chores, exams. But some entries stood out. He's blocked off “beach week.” Sound familiar? That's on his yearbook page listed as the “Beach Week Ralph Club – Biggest Contributor”. I don't know about you, but to me ralphing used to mean throwing up. Weird for a guy who says he never had any drinking to excess. Drunk to the point of vomiting and proud of it back then.
Now the impression that he left after his Fox interview where he portrayed himself as the virginal teen focused on church and service projects. There are several references to Mark or Judge, who Blasey Ford says was there when she was assaulted. These pages don't show much about whether or not there was an assault of course, but they do show Kavanaugh was a privileged teen and that he went to a lot of parties.
Let's bring in Don Lemon. I also didn't see in the calendars over the summer, the three months or so that we looked at, of service projects that he says in the interview he was doing all along. What's my point? My point is this--
DON LEMON: I know what your point is. He's not the choir boy. His calendar -- you know, people are putting a lot of stock in the calendar and what he said in the yearbook. But what's important about it is that it shows quite a difference in what he says he was in that interview.
CUOMO: Look, it's interesting that he had it. It's interesting that it's out there. You know why it's really interesting to me? Because it's such a piece of detailed evidence.
LEMON: Yeah.
CUOMO: In a situation where nobody is killing themselves to get the facts.
LEMON: Yeah.
CUOMO: You know what I mean? To me, it's such a juxtaposition.
LEMON: Yeah.
CUOMO: That's got a calendar. Look, I kept a calendar from all the way back then. But they won't even bring in the people who say they want to talk to them today.
LEMON: And the people who are listed in the calendar -- listen, Philip Bump of The Washington Post, the folks at The Washington Post, they annotated this calendar, and my question to him is maybe it doesn't put these folks in the same room, but does it put them in the same place, and what does that mean? Is that corroborating? We shall see, coming up.
CUOMO: Strong question. Look forward to that. Thank you, D. Lemon.
