For years the media has been full of predictions that whatever that day's controversy is will be the one that dooms President Trump. For CNN's Carl Bernstein and CNN Newsroom host Brianna Keilar, the New York Times opposition-research report on Trump's taxes is the latest example with Bernstein using the report to further his conspiracy theory that Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are controlling Trump's national security policy.
CNN hyped Bernstein on screen as "Legendary Watergate Journalist." CNN never tires of comparing Trump to Nixon.
Keilar began simply: "Carl, give us your reaction of what's really a bombshell report here."
Bernstein, for his part, wasted no time going into full hyperbole, "This is really the smoking gun of a pervasively criminal presidency. We have a president of the United States who is a grifter. His family are grifters and this is the definitive evidence of it, but more grievous, grotesque, and dangerous are the national security implications of the New York Times report."
He then cited a quote from Eric Trump to prove his point, "I think you have to go back to a statement by Eric Trump that said a while back, well, the son of the president, well, 'we don't rely on American banks. We have the funding out of Russia.' This points to the president's foreign entanglements for his own political purposes and his own financial good."
Bernstein failed to add that Eric Trump has denied making any such comments. Nevertheless, Bernstein added, "This is an unraveling that we now need to do in the press and the Congress of the United States to find out just how great a national security threat to this country our president is, particularly in his dealings with Putin, with Erdogan of Turkey, this report in the Times shows is the pervasive ability of these countries to hold the president up."
According to the NYT's report, Trump's taxes do not, "reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia."
As for Turkey, Bernstein apparently has a short memory, because U.S.-Turkey relations under Trump have not been nearly as friendly as Bernstein is alleging, partly because it was Erdogan, not Trump, who was getting too friendly with Putin. They have improved somewhat, not because of Trump's personal finances, but because that strategy has not prevented Turkey and Russia from clashing elsewhere.
But, talking about geopolitical complexities is difficult. Accusing Trump of being a criminal grifter and claiming "we need to follow the leads now to see where it really takes us, follow the money, follow the lies" is easy.
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Here is a transcript for the September 28 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom
1:33 PM ET
BRIANNA KEILAR: Joining me, journalist and CNN political analyst Carl Bernstein with us and Carl, give us your reaction of what's really a bombshell report here.
CARL BERNSTEIN: This is really the smoking gun of a pervasively criminal presidency. We have a president of the United States who is a grifter. His family are grifters and this is the definitive evidence of it, but more grievous, grotesque, and dangerous are the national security implications of the New York Times report. I think you have to go back to a statement by Eric Trump that said a while back, well, the son of the president, well, “we don't rely on American banks. We have the funding out of Russia.” This points to the president's foreign entanglements for his own political purposes and his own financial good. This is an unraveling that we now need to do in the press and the Congress of the United States to find out just how great a national security threat to this country our president is, particularly in his dealings with Putin, with Erdogan of Turkey, this report in the Times shows is the pervasive ability of these countries to hold the president up and as a former national security director -- pardon me, director of national intelligence, Dan Coats said he believes that Putin has something on Trump and we need to follow the leads now to see where it really takes us, follow the money, follow the lies.
