HEAD IN SAND

CNN’s Jake Tapper Calls Out Trump Lawyers, Fox News for Pretending Bolton Bombshell Doesn’t Exist

The CNN anchor said that Trump’s defenders “are are acting as though senators don’t read the newspaper.”

During a break in the Trump impeachment trial Monday afternoon, CNN anchor Jake Tapper tore into both the president’s defense team and a certain other cable news network for ignoring the revelations contained in leaks from former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s forthcoming book The Room Where It Happened. 

“The president’s defenders—the White House legal team and others—are acting as though senators don’t read the newspaper, senators don’t read the news,” Tapper said. “Now maybe there is a news channel where this John Bolton revelation isn’t being mentioned, even if he’s a former employee, I don’t know.” 

The CNN anchor was not-so-subtly referring to Fox News, where Bolton served as a paid contributor for years before joining the Trump administration.

Tapper went on to ask his guest, Senate Parliamentarian Emeritus Alan Frumin, if there is anything in the Senate rules stating that Senate jurors can only consider evidence collected in the House impeachment hearings as opposed to new information that has come out since. He wanted to know if senators are really supposed to “ignore” news about “John Bolton directly contradicting the case that the president’s team is making.” 

“The short answer is no,” Frumin answered. 

While the Bolton bombshells have been discussed on Fox News, the hosts of Fox & Friends spent their morning downplaying his claims and telling viewers—including the president himself—that Bolton’s not to be trusted.  

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