On Tuesday morning’s New Day, CNN host John Berman brought on senior political analyst John Avlon to go on an unhinged rant about President Trump commutation of Roger Stone’s sentence and allegations that Michael Cohen is going back to prison because he was planning to write a “tell-all” book about Trump. Avlon venomously declared that Trump runs an “authoritarian regime” and seemed to take the less than reliable Cohen’s claims at face value.
Avlon began his rant by bashing Trump for pardoning several allies:
The Trump orbit has far more than its fair share of felons. Many of them out of prison only after sucking up to the president. Now, there is one notable exception. But first, the tale of the tape. Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort is a felon. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, a felon. Political Adviser Roger Stone is a felon, and just the latest beneficiary of Trump's presidential gift to loyalists, a commutation of his 40-month sentence. Even though one of his prosecutors testified they'd been pressured to go easy on Stone because of his relationship with Trump. Stone lied to Congress, tampered with witnesses, was the campaign's primary conduit to WikiLeaks and said he hoped to be rewarded for not rolling over on Trump. Not even Nixon rewarded his henchman this way. But sucking up to Trump has proven to be an effective way of getting the President to spring you early. From Sheriff Joe Arpaio, to Eddie Gallagher, the Navy SEAL court-martialed for killing civilians, Governor Rod Blagojevich, to Dinesh D'Souza, who subsequently made a movie comparing Trump to Abraham Lincoln, which is bonkers.
Never mind that Barack Obama granted more commutations than any other president at 1,175 and Trump has only given out 11. Also forget that Stone and Flynn were both indicted by corrupt prosecutors who wanted them to provide evidence that did not exist for the phony Russia investigation. It does not matter that James Clapper, Andrew McCabe, Susan Rice, and others that pushed the hoax testified under oath that there was no collusion. No, CNN will still put forward the same, debunked narrative, despite that it appears that the Democrats have indulged in far more corruption during the years of the Trump administration. It might as well be Adam Schiff doing segments for CNN, and not supposedly objective journalists.
As for “bonkers” history? CNN and the rest of the liberal media has pushed the “bonkers,” fake history 1619 Project.
Avlon then repeated the claims of Cohen as if they are true:
But right now, of all of Trump's felons, only one is still actually in prison. That would be Michael Cohen. And what makes him different? Well, he spoke out against Trump after years of being his ruthless enforcer and now, after a furlough, he's back in prison. Why? Now, some think it was this photo of him eating outdoors violating his house arrest. But that's not it. According to Cohen's lawyers, it's to stop him from publishing a tell-all book about Trump before the election. Now, Cohen was suddenly sent back to prison after refusing to sign a document requiring no engagement of any kind with the media, including print, TV, film, and books. Now, you might think this is normal procedure. But it's not. Not by a long shot. In fact, a long list of constitutional scholars were interviewed by the website Just Security and they described it as patently unconstitutional and an obvious violation of Cohen's First Amendment rights. Now, Cohen eventually said he'd sign, but it was apparently too late. He was not only shipped back to prison, but put into solitary confinement, officially over COVID concerns.
CNN loves Michael Cohen now? He has a well-known history of lying and CNN has attacked him for it. His supposed book must be like the allegedly tell-all books CNN has eaten up from John Bolton and Mary Trump without any reservations for ascertaining the truth of their claims.
Avlon then made insane claims about Trump and attacked conservatives:
This is a clear attempt to suppress speech about the President, says Professor Jane Kirtley. A violation of the right of the public to learn what he has to say, much like the Trump family trying to stop the publication of his niece, Mary Trump's book, and John Bolton's book. This is what authoritarian regimes do, stop the free speech of dissidents or people the ruler deems disloyal. In the case of Cohen, it's being pressed through the Bureau of Prisons, which reports to AG Bill Barr, who will only say that Cohen declined to agree to the terms of home confinement. Look, Michael Cohen made a lot of mistakes and he's owned up to many of them, but this is bigger than Michael Cohen. It's bigger than partisan politics. If you claim to be a constitutional conservative, then you ought to be outraged about the muzzling of Michael Cohen because this is an assault on the First Amendment, freedom of speech. And if you accept, ignore or normalize it, then you're reinforcing a culture of fear in the name of partisan loyalty, a culture that frees felons as long as they protect and defend the President.
Avlon calls his segments a “reality check” but much like the rest of CNN, his supposed facts are far from “reality.”
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Read the full July 14th transcript here:
CNN New Day
07/14/20
8:40:43 AM
JOHN BERMAN: So, President Trump has made it a matter of policy to pardon his close friends and allies. Most recently commuting the sentence of long-time political operative Roger Stone while his long-time fixer, Michael Cohen, heading back to jail. John Avlon with a "Reality Check."
JOHN AVLON (CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST): The Trump orbit has far more than its fair share of felons. Many of them out of prison only after sucking up to the president. Now, there is one notable exception. But first, the tale of the tape. Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort is a felon. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, a felon. Political Adviser Roger Stone is a felon, and just the latest beneficiary of Trump's presidential gift to loyalists, a commutation of his 40-month sentence. Even though one of his prosecutors testified they'd been pressured to go easy on Stone because of his relationship with Trump. Stone lied to Congress, tampered with witnesses, was the campaign's primary conduit to WikiLeaks and said he hoped to be rewarded for not rolling over on Trump. Not even Nixon rewarded his henchman this way. But sucking up to Trump has proven to be an effective way of getting the President to spring you early. From Sheriff Joe Arpaio, to Eddie Gallagher, the Navy SEAL court-martialed for killing civilians, Governor Rod Blagojevich, to Dinesh D'Souza, who subsequently made a movie comparing Trump to Abraham Lincoln, which is bonkers. But right now, of all of Trump's felons, only one is still actually in prison. That would be Michael Cohen. And what makes him different? Well, he spoke out against Trump after years of being his ruthless enforcer and now, after a furlough, he's back in prison. Why? Now, some think it was this photo of him eating outdoors violating his house arrest. But that's not it. According to Cohen's lawyers, it's to stop him from publishing a tell-all book about Trump before the election. Now, Cohen was suddenly sent back to prison after refusing to sign a document requiring no engagement of any kind with the media, including print, TV, film, and books. Now, you might think this is normal procedure. But it's not. Not by a long shot. In fact, a long list of constitutional scholars were interviewed by the website Just Security and they described it as patently unconstitutional and an obvious violation of Cohen's First Amendment rights. Now, Cohen eventually said he'd sign, but it was apparently too late. He was not only shipped back to prison, but put into solitary confinement, officially over COVID concerns. This is a clear attempt to suppress speech about the President, says Professor Jane Kirtley. A violation of the right of the public to learn what he has to say, much like the Trump family trying to stop the publication of his niece, Mary Trump's book, and John Bolton's book. This is what authoritarian regimes do, stop the free speech of dissidents or people the ruler deems disloyal. In the case of Cohen, it's being pressed through the Bureau of Prisons, which reports to AG Bill Barr, who will only say that Cohen declined to agree to the terms of home confinement. Look, Michael Cohen made a lot of mistakes and he's owned up to many of them, but this is bigger than Michael Cohen. It's bigger than partisan politics. If you claim to be a constitutional conservative, then you ought to be outraged about the muzzling of Michael Cohen because this is an assault on the First Amendment, freedom of speech. And if you accept, ignore or normalize it, then you're reinforcing a culture of fear in the name of partisan loyalty, a culture that frees felons as long as they protect and defend the President. And that's your "Reality Check."
