As anyone who has passed a high school civics class knows, the impeachment process is not a legal proceeding but a political one. Luckily, CNN host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo knew at least that much. But he spent a lot of Wednesday’s Prime Time decrying Senate Republicans for not being impartial jurors in President Trump’s second impeachment trial. Yet, he never admitted that Democrats weren’t impartial either, and even boasted about one of his guests already calling for Trump’s conviction.
On top of that, Cuomo admitted to wanting to “traumatize” the Republican side of the Senate.
“We know this is a political trial. Okay. We know that. We know the jurors are not impartial. We know that. Mitch McConnell said it,” he said to former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, as if he broke some kind of major case.
But Bharara went on to explain that every member of the Senate, Democrats include, wouldn’t be allowed to jurors in “a real trial” because they’re biased against Trump (Click “expand”):
Well, I think it did very much so, and this issue that we have been talking about, it's kind of interesting. That makes it a peculiar kind of trial and creates a conflict of interest of sorts because a lot of these, in fact, arguably, all of the senators who were also jurors were victims or potential victims of the mob violence. You would never have that in a real trial.
And you would expect that -- the reason you wouldn't have it in a normal trial is that might prejudice those jurors against the defendant.
After talking with Bharara, Cuomo turned to fellow CNN host Michael Smerconish to get the comments he was looking for.
Citing a Washington Post article arguing that roughly half of the GOP senators were “in sync” with the former President, Smerconish suggested “it raises further questions of bias on their part. How can they be fair and sitting in judgment of Trump, when essentially they were doing a lot of the same?”
“Exactly,” Cuomo agreed. “You have witnesses, victims, and accomplices as the jury.”
But in teasing an upcoming interview with Senator Stolen Valor, aka Democrat Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cuomo threw out his disgust for biased jurors and praised the Senator for already declaring his vote. “Then, we have a Senate juror who’s already calling for Trump's conviction,” he touted.
And after an interview with Congresswoman Susan Wild (D-PA), Cuomo’s first question to Blumenthal was about how the GOP senators were no longer part of his family:
So you're in there, and you know, as you look around the room, that some of your brothers and a few of your sisters on the right are really not family to you anymore. They're not paying attention, Senator. They don't give a damn. They’ve made up their mind of what to do here, and it's all about expediency, even though they know you got lucky, all of you walking out there that day.
As for his interview with Wild, he told her she should take care of her mental health given the trauma she experienced during the riot. But he admitted to wanting to scar Republicans. “But I do want to traumatize the people who are sitting as jurors because there's too much of a rush here to dismiss this, to move past it, because they have different political inclinations and worries,” he sneered.
Looking to smear Republicans further, Cuomo brought on perpetually apocalyptic CNN journalist Carl Bernstein to rant about the “moral dimension to this” and call them “evil” (click “expand”):
You know this. I've covered the courts. You're a lawyer. And in cases of violence, that juries take into consideration in their minds the presence of evil. And that's really part of what the Republican Party here seems to refuse to consider. That evil has come to be the agenda of a president, and they have gone along with it. So, there's a moral dimension that we really ought to be considering in this as well as the legal and the trial.
This was just a continuation of Cuomo’s ghoulish attacks on Republicans since the 2020 election. This is CNN.
Chris Cuomo’s anti-Republican smears were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Celebrity Cruises and Discover. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time
February 10, 2021
9:12:18 p.m. Eastern(…)
CHRIS CUOMO: Now Preet, we know this is a political trial. Okay. We know that. We know the jurors are not impartial. We know that. Mitch McConnell said it. But do you think today may have made a difference when it kind of – when it really dawned on me and maybe on them, he really left you guys to die in there, that he knew they were hunting you, and he did not stop it. Did that come through?
PREET BHARARA: Well, I think it did very much so, and this issue that we have been talking about, it's kind of interesting. That makes it a peculiar kind of trial and creates a conflict of interest of sorts because a lot of these, in fact, arguably, all of the senators who were also jurors were victims or potential victims of the mob violence. You would never have that in a real trial.
And you would expect that -- the reason you wouldn't have it in a normal trial is that might prejudice those jurors against the defendant.
(…)
9:14:23 p.m. Eastern
MICHAEL SMERCONISH: Philip Bump has great reporting in The Washington Post tonight about how about one half of those Senate Republicans themselves were saying and doing things completely in sync with what the President is being held accountable for. So, it raises further questions of bias on their part. How can they be fair and sitting in judgment of Trump, when essentially they were doing a lot of the same?
CUOMO: Exactly. You have witnesses, victims, and accomplices as the jury.
(…)
9:15:58 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: Then, we have a Senate juror who’s already calling for Trump's conviction. What does he think of the case, and what does he think of what it means if there is an acquittal? Next.
(…)
9:25:20 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: And you know, you gotta treat yourself like you fell down a flight of stairs, Representative [Susan Wild (D-PA)]. You know what I mean? You’ve to be kind to yourself, and if you start to feel things, you got to get help, just like you would for anything else. You know, injuries on the inside are the same as injuries on the outside.
And I don't want to traumatize or re-traumatize, but I do want to traumatize the people who are sitting as jurors because there's too much of a rush here to dismiss this, to move past it, because they have different political inclinations and worries.
(…)
9:28:23 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. So you're in there, and you know, as you look around the room, that some of your brothers and a few of your sisters on the right are really not family to you anymore. They're not paying attention, Senator. They don't give a damn. They’ve made up their mind of what to do here, and it's all about expediency, even though they know you got lucky, all of you walking out there that day.
(…)
9:55:32 p.m. Eastern
CARL BERNSTEIN: Yes, it's an open and shut case in terms of the incitement. But there's a moral dimension to this.
You know this. I've covered the courts. You're a lawyer. And in cases of violence, that juries take into consideration in their minds the presence of evil. And that's really part of what the Republican Party here seems to refuse to consider. That evil has come to be the agenda of a president, and they have gone along with it. So, there's a moral dimension that we really ought to be considering in this as well as the legal and the trial.
(…)
