Another media outlet seems to be souring on the Senate impeachment trial and the way the Democrats have handled it. As it appears more likely that there won’t be witnesses and that an acquittal could have some Democratic support, CBS’s Norah O’Donnell on Thursday predicted a coming “nightmare” for the left. Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager suggested impeachment could have little impact on 2020 and a CBS voter group unanimously predicted a Trump win.
O’Donnell hinted, “We put up [on screen] the three senators there who could vote with Republicans for acquittal. That would allow the White House to say, this was a bipartisan acquittal. Is that the worst nightmare for Democrats?”
Robby Mook, the man who ran the last Democratic campaign, saw no benefit for impeachment: “Look, long term, you were talking about the election. I don't think this is going to be a big part of the election. I think the election is going to be litigated over economic reality, over big questions like leadership.”
CBS’s John Dickerson saw it as a net negative for Democrats:
But implicit in that is “Gee, we wasted a lot of time on this and not the important stuff.” So, if that is their argument for the fall, they're basically saying, “We spent all this time.” They're helping the President make his his case which is “you wasted a lot of time on impeachment.
Earlier, on CBS This Morning, the network assembled a group of voters. Four of them support the President and four oppose. Reporter Anthony Mason asked who thought Trump will win and everyone said yes. This prompted a “wow” response from co-host Tony Dokoupil:
Co-host Gayle King deemed that Democrats have “got some work to do.”
A partial transcript is below:
CBS impeachment coverage
1/30/2020
3:23
NORAH O’DONNELL: We put up [on screen] the three senators there who could vote with Republicans for acquittal. That would allow the White House to say, this was a bipartisan acquittal. Is that the worst nightmare for Democrats?
ROBBY MOOK: Well, short term, look, I'm sure the President is not only going to say this is bipartisan he's going to say it was overwhelming reprieve, “I've never done anything wrong, they tried to come after me, I never did anything, it was all a hoax.” Look, long term, you were talking about the election. I don't think this is going to be a big part of the election. I think the election is going to be litigated over economic reality, over big questions like leadership, commander in chief, so on and so forth. My guess is, ironically, it's the President who is going to wanted to fixate on this when it's done. And actually not the Democrats. I think the Democrats are going to want to move on.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But if Joe Biden is standing on that debate stage, you don't think some of these allegations about Hunter Biden are going come out?
MOOK: Oh, that’s what I’m saying. I think the President will want to talk about this plenty. Democrats will want to move on and talk about people's economic reality. Has the country gotten better? Do you want this man's finger on the finger of our nuclear arsenal?
JOHN DICKERSON: But implicit in that is “Gee, we wasted a lot of time on this and not the important stuff.” So, if that is their argument for the fall, they're basically saying, “We spent all this time.” They're helping the President make his his case which is “you wasted a lot of time on impeachment.
...O’DONNELL: we should note we're days away from the Iowa caucuses, of course then on February 3rd president's State of the union on February 4th. And many Americans who live in battleground states have already received absentee ballots. So the voting is in some ways already underway, which bolsters the White House argument, “Look, you're trying to interfere in an election already that is going on. Let the voters make the decision about how this ultimately gets done.” That's one of their strongest arguments ultimately. This is the people's decision.
