Tag: George Stephanopoulos

The Story: Seven candidates for the nomination of the Democratic Party for President of the United States met in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday, February...

Some saw a dereliction of Constitutional duty, summed up by Rep. John Yarmuth’s (D-Ky.) claim that the failure to use impeachment against a president this lawless renders the constitutional tool “meaningless.” On a recent Sunday show, ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos incredulously asked if the decision meant impeachment was “simply political?” As though there would be something wrong if it were. It ignores the way our Constitutional framers ingrained politics into the very design of impeachment and intended the choice whether or not to impeach to require many extra-legal considerations. Once given to politicians, Hamilton acknowledged that political considerations would come into play including “animosities, partialities, influence, and interest.” Hence the two-thirds threshold for removal to ensure that this powerful tool was only deployed in times of real and overriding consensus – not as just another tool in the legislative back and forth. So it’s entirely unsurprising and appropriate that Speaker Pelosi appears to be weighing politics, including whether pursuing impeachment will expose Democrats to charges of partisanship or make them seem out of touch with the people’s more practical needs; whether enough senators will vote for removal of the president to make the impeachment effort have a concrete impact or what harm would flow from an impeachment that died in the Senate; and whether the news media will meaningfully cover any other issue once while the possibility of impeachment hangs in the air. If those are some of her questions, it’s hard to argue with her answers. And on the subject of cable news’s impeachment obsession, the one-day wall-to-wall coverage of Pelosi’s statement about not impeaching kind of proves the point. In my view, the public record is replete with facts that strongly suggest the president has committed numerous impeachable offenses. Nor is there any inkling that even one Republican senator would break with the president, let alone the twenty needed to remove the president from office. Of course, they should continue to investigate and hold the president and the rest of the administration accountable for their many misdeeds and breaches of the public trust without the oxygen-sucking shadow of impeachment hanging over every hearing. And if those hearings – or the report to Congress on the results of the Mueller investigation - do produce the kind of evidence that shifts public opinion and Senate votes, Speaker Pelosi can revisit this issue.

Some saw a dereliction of Constitutional duty, summed up by Rep. John Yarmuth’s (D-Ky.) claim that the failure to use impeachment against a president this lawless renders the constitutional tool “meaningless.” On a recent Sunday show, ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos incredulously asked if the decision meant impeachment was “simply political?” As though there would be something wrong if it were. It ignores the way our Constitutional framers ingrained politics into the very design of impeachment and intended the choice whether or not to impeach to require many extra-legal considerations. Once given to politicians, Hamilton acknowledged that political considerations would come into play including “animosities, partialities, influence, and interest.” Hence the two-thirds threshold for removal to ensure that this powerful tool was only deployed in times of real and overriding consensus – not as just another tool in the legislative back and forth. So it’s entirely unsurprising and appropriate that Speaker Pelosi appears to be weighing politics, including whether pursuing impeachment will expose Democrats to charges of partisanship or make them seem out of touch with the people’s more practical needs; whether enough senators will vote for removal of the president to make the impeachment effort have a concrete impact or what harm would flow from an impeachment that died in the Senate; and whether the news media will meaningfully cover any other issue once while the possibility of impeachment hangs in the air. If those are some of her questions, it’s hard to argue with her answers. And on the subject of cable news’s impeachment obsession, the one-day wall-to-wall coverage of Pelosi’s statement about not impeaching kind of proves the point. In my view, the public record is replete with facts that strongly suggest the president has committed numerous impeachable offenses. Nor is there any inkling that even one Republican senator would break with the president, let alone the twenty needed to remove the president from office. Of course, they should continue to investigate and hold the president and the rest of the administration accountable for their many misdeeds and breaches of the public trust without the oxygen-sucking shadow of impeachment hanging over every hearing. And if those hearings – or the report to Congress on the results of the Mueller investigation - do produce the kind of evidence that shifts public opinion and Senate votes, Speaker Pelosi can revisit this issue.

Leah Millis/Reuters Sarah Isgur Flores, a Republican spokeswoman who worked most recently for the Justice Department, has been hired by CNN to help with the network’s political coverage, propelling a Trump administration official directly into a news role for a top cable network. Her hiring as a “political editor,” not a commentator, led to internal and external criticism of CNN for placing a Republican political operative in a position to help guide daily political coverage, including 2020 presidential campaign news. In an internal memo on Wednesday announcing the hire, CNN’s Washington bureau chief, Sam Feist, said Ms. Isgur would spend the first few months getting to know CNN, and then “play a coordinating role” in covering politics. She previously worked as a deputy campaign manager for Carly Fiorina, a Republican who ran for president during the 2016 election. And years ago she retweeted a comment from a conservative news outlet that referred to her new employer as the “Clinton News Network.” Mr. Feist’s memo on Wednesday came after a flurry of concern — and in some cases, deep frustration — voiced by members of the network’s political staff, according to two people familiar with the complaints. CNN has previously showed a willingness to hire employees from conservative-leaning news outlets and organizations, arguing that ideological diversity is helpful in ensuring robust coverage. Some prominent journalists have forged careers in news after working in politics, including George Stephanopoulos, who was hired as a contributing correspondent for ABC News in 1996 after serving as one of President Bill Clinton’s closest advisers. His move from the Clinton White House to ABC News — initially as a partisan member of a Sunday political panel, who would also do some reporting — raised hackles inside and outside the network at the time. David Axelrod, the chief political strategist for both of President Barack Obama’s campaigns, was hired by NBC News as an analyst in 2013, and has since moved to CNN. But Ms. Isgur is joining the network as a political editor, not a pundit, and departing an administration in which the president routinely criticizes the news media, including CNN.

-Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) Today in 5 Lines Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, signaled that he’s willing to cooperate with the special counsel, telling ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he plans to “put family and country first.” Trump said he’s interviewed four candidates to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and plans to meet with at least two more. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced that the disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been charged with allegedly sexually assaulting a third woman in 2006. The FBI arrested a man for allegedly plotting a terror attack on a Fourth of July parade in Cleveland. The White House announced that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will leave for North Korea on July 5 to continue talks about denuclearization. Today on The Atlantic ‘His Brother’s Keeper’: As the chief spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, it’s T.J. Smith’s job to announce each new homicide. On July 2, 2017, he informed the city about homicide victim 173: his younger brother. (Luke Mullins) ‘I Am Not a Villain of This Story’: In an interview with ABC, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen said he plans to “put family and country first.” Will he turn on Trump? (David A. Graham) A Court Without Kennedy: There’s still a great deal of uncertainty about what the future of abortion rights will look like, writes Mary Ziegler. Populism South of the Border: Mexico’s new president-elect, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has promised to take the country in a new direction. It can go one of two ways.

Giuliani gave damaging unhinged interviews (complete with crazy eyes) on Donald Trump's behalf last week during which he directly contradicted statements Trump made about the payment to Stormy Daniels, to the point where Trump had to say Giuliani is new…

As seen on Watters' World 'Angel Mom' Slams CA Gov. on Sanctuary Law: 'I Would Expect My Government to Protect Us' Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci blasted James Comey Saturday, saying the former FBI director needs to "develop a little bit self-awareness" as he makes the rounds on his book tour. "The power went to [Comey's] head ... This is nonsensical stuff," Scaramucci said. "My recommendation to him is get off the air, take a chill and develop a little bit of self-awareness about the problems you, yourself have, because guess what: we all have problems." Jesse Watters also noted an un-aired portion of Comey's interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, during which Comey said he did not know if the Christopher Steele dossier on President Trump was credible. Scaramucci said that Comey is showing "a lot of partisanship" and "the politics of personal dislike" toward Trump. "You don't like the person, so now you're going to curve the rules to affect and hurt the person. It's unfair," he said on "Watters' World." Watch more above.