CNN really wants you to take them seriously as a news organization, but it’s infinitely more difficult when they keep on inviting proven fake news anchors such as Dan Rather to opine on the day’s news like they did on Tuesday’s CNN Tonight.
Host Don Lemon again thought it was worth inviting on “Mr. Rather” to bash the President as a liar and demand more transparency from the Justice Department concerning the Mueller report. And no, you can’t make this stuff up.
Leading off the two-hour show’s B-block, Lemon introduced both Rather and former longtime Countdown with Keith Olbermann guest, former Nixon aide, and liberal media darling John Dean before asking Rather:
But I want to start you, Mr. Rather. Thank you for joining us. Both of you gentlemen, by the way. So, what happened to the President saying that the report should be released, he said I have nothing to hide. If it completely exonerates him, as he has falsely claimed, what is the big deal?
Rather offered standard talking points about how the public has only seen a few dozen words from the Mueller report that’s hundreds of pages long, but then the irony alert shattered into a million pieces.
Out of nowhere, Rather went on a lecture to the American people about whether they’ll accept liars like the President (click “expand”):
Now, one could speculate, and it is clear speculation that one reason President Trump has reversed himself is that members of his staff were telling him, look, this is good news, we're good thus far, but don't get too far out there because there are things in the report, there are could be things in the report that will be contrary to your best interest, but, look, you know, we need to ask yourselves who are we as a people? What have we become and what are we becoming? Where are we headed? You have the President today, he lied, I hate to use the word, but he lied...[B]ut he lied about Puerto Rico saying we sent $91 billion there, which is not anywhere near the amount of money we sent there, but, you know, he takes the attitude if he lies often enough, enough people will believe it to keep him in good standing for this presidential term and put him well positioned for the next presidential term, but time and time again, you see him use this technique, which he says I have nothing to hide.
Moments later, Rather peddled the liberal media-wide conspiracy that the Mueller report’s conclusion that Trump wasn’t exonerated on obstruction of justice could still be taken as the President being guilty (click “expand”):
He was not exonerated on obstruction of justice. We were told, we accept, that on a matter of conspiracy with the Russians in which he or anyone close or anyone was involved or collusion, the word he prefers to use, very clear, the report exonerates him on that. On obstruction of justice, it says directly that there's some evidence that he did and some evidence that he didn't. Now the attorney general has taken it upon himself to make the decision, well, that being the case, “I, Attorney General Barr, a supporter of President Trump, of course, says I'll make the decision.”
After Lemon went over to Dean for a few minutes, Lemon came back to Rather with another softball: “So, Dan, listen, we also heard from the President today, he accused some people of treason for even launching the investigation. Treason. What do you think of that?”
Rather replied that he “would consider this by any objective analysis outrageous and also dangerous, to begin accusing one another fellow Americans of treason” and that “[t]his is not the kind of language that we're accustomed to presidents using.”
If you thought Lemon was going to stop there with the double standards, he led off the 11:00 p.m. Eastern hour by criticizing comments the President made about the 2018 midterms being “rigged” by turning to none other than Florida Democrat Andrew Gillum, who has called into question the gubernatorial election he lost in November to Republican Ron DeSantis.
Of course, Lemon stayed away from challenging Gillum and instead turned his guns on former RNC official Mike Shields, who noted the dangerous precedent peddled by Gillum, Georgia’s Stacey Abrams, and ballot harvesting in California.
To see the relevant transcript from April 3's CNN Tonight, click “expand.”
CNN Tonight
April 3, 2019
10:18 p.m. EasternDON LEMON: The House Judiciary Committee planning to vote tomorrow to authorize a subpoena for Robert Mueller's full report without redactions. President Trump who had said the report should be made public now calling the move by the committee, his words, “ridiculous and a disgrace.” Here to discuss is Dan Rather. Dan is the host of AXS TV's The Big Interview. John Dean is here as well. He's a former Nixon White House counsel and I'm going to get to John in just a moment. But I want to start you, Mr. Rather. Thank you for joining us. Both of you gentlemen, by the way. So, what happened to the President saying that the report should be released, he said I have nothing to hide. If it completely exonerates him, as he has falsely claimed, what is the big deal?
DAN RATHER: Well, the big deal, I think, we can only speculate, because he has done, as you put it before, a complete 180. So, if — if the report completely exonerates him as he continues to claim, then why is he resisting having even Congress, never mind the public, get the full report? I think we need to back off of what we call on television the wide shot here. All we know about the report is I think it's 42 words that the attorney general has told us, 42 words out of somewhere between 300 and 400 pages. Now, one could speculate, and it is clear speculation that one reason President Trump has reversed himself is that members of his staff were telling him, look, this is good news, we're good thus far, but don't get too far out there because there are things in the report, there are could be things in the report that will be contrary to your best interest, but, look, you know, we need to ask yourselves who are we as a people? What have we become and what are we becoming? Where are we headed? You have the President today, he lied, I hate to use the word, but he lied —
LEMON: It's tough when you're talking about the President of the United States.
RATHER: It is, still very tough.
LEMON: Yes.
RATHER: But he lied about Puerto Rico saying we sent $91 billion there, which is not anywhere near the amount of money we sent there, but, you know, he takes the attitude if he lies often enough, enough people will believe it to keep him in good standing for this presidential term and put him well positioned for the next presidential term, but time and time again, you see him use this technique, which he says I have nothing to hide. Well, if he has nothing to hide, why haven't we seen his tax returns? About the Mueller report, I have nothing to hide. Well, if he has nothing to hide, if he completely exonerates him which is not true, we know that already from the 42 words we know about, but if it exonerates him, he should want it out there for everybody to see.
LEMON: So, let me ask you, then, a similar question, so then what is going on, you think, inside the White House? You think there's a sense of panic about the Mueller report? Do you think people are telling him maybe you're overselling this a little bit? Because as you point out, we've only seen a few dozen words from the actual report, and, there, listen, maybe there's nothing in there. Maybe, you know, it's a glowing report about him, but, you know —
RATHER: Well, we already know that there are things in there he will not like on the question of obstruction of justice. He was not exonerated on obstruction of justice. We were told, we accept, that on a matter of conspiracy with the Russians in which he or anyone close or anyone was involved or collusion, the word he prefers to use, very clear, the report exonerates him on that. On obstruction of justice, it says directly that there's some evidence that he did and some evidence that he didn't.
LEMON: Didn't. Yeah.
RATHER: Now the attorney general has taken it upon himself to make the decision, well, that being the case, “I, Attorney General Barr, a supporter of President Trump, of course, says I'll make the decision.”
LEMON: “I’ll make the decision.” And I think Congress is saying that they should be allowed to make the decision, they want to see the evidence from this report.
(....)
10:24 p.m. Eastern
LEMON: So, Dan, listen, we also heard from the President today, he accused some people of treason for even launching the investigation. Treason. What do you think of that?
RATHER: Well, I think we need to see it in the context in which it's said. If this President says all kinds of outrageous things, and I would consider this by any objective analysis outrageous and also dangerous, to begin accusing one another fellow Americans of treason.
LEMON: Of treason.
RATHER: Particularly when it involves you, something you have or have not done personally. This is not the kind of language that we're accustomed to presidents using. President Trump uses it because he does think it reinforces him with his base that he's not afraid to call people out, so forth, but you know, one can only hope that the public at large, and I do have great confidence in Americans in the audience, see this for what it is, that he's on the one hand playing defense because the Mueller report on the central, most important thing about conspiracy with Russia, did exonerate him. So, he's playing offense on that. Then he's playing defense about what else may be in the report, the whole question of obstruction of justice and playing defense on a lot of other fronts, including this news of possibly closing the border which, by the way, could be really important in terms of negative effect on the economy, but he’s — he’s a master, and one has to give him credit, even if it's begrudging credit, sort of a cunning master of running a very strong offense using words, even words such as treason, when it benefits him, but then playing fierce defense on the other hand.
LEMON: Yeah.
RATHER: And that's one reason he's President.
