LOS ANGELES.–Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), 68, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” told 52-year-old host Dana Bash that he thinks all of the cases against 77-year-old President Donald Trump are politically motivated. Bash wanted Graham’s take on the Manhattan hush money trial where testimony by former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker indicated that it paid for stories and then never used them in what’s called “catch-and-kill.” Jurors learned about catch-and-kill from prosecutors trying to make a federal case out of a routine practices that applied to many celebrities where they decide to pay someone for their story for the purpose of never running it in the newspaper. Manhattan District Atty. Alvin Bragg’s lead prosecutor Joshua Steinglass made the jury think it was an illegal activity, when, in fact, it was commonly done in the tabloid industry.
Interviewing Graham, Bash knew she wouldn’t get too much consensus about whether Trump committed the egregious felonies alleged in the hush-money case but all the other cases charging Trump with obstruction of a government proceeding, election racketeering or illegally possessing classified documents. Bash showed her liberal bias against Trump, finding him guilty of everything charged largely by liberal prosecutors. “You know, why don’t you ask me if he’s convicted, would I change my view? No! I think all these trials are political,” Graham told Bash. “I think what’s going on in New York is an outrage. The case is eight years ago. They created a crime just for Trump,” Graham said. Bash doesn’t hesitate as a CNN journalist to show her right wing bias, but, more importantly, how the entire cable network wants to see Trump convicted to help reelect 81-year-old President Joe Biden.
Unlike Graham who thinks Trump has been politicially charged by liberal prosecutors, Bash wants Trump convicted on all charges before the November presidential election. Bash said nothing to Graham about a new CNN poll that showed 49% of registered voters favoring Trump over Biden, with Biden having 43%. Whether the polls are accurate or have any meaning at all, it’s a barometer of public sentiment, apparently agreeing with Graham that the four cases, involving 91 felony charges, are politically motivated, raising disturbing questions about the U.S. criminal justice system. Graham’s charge of political bias at the Department of Justice is a devastating indictment of the U.S. criminal justice, something that threw Bash for a loop, not knowing how to respond. Bash acts like all the charges against Trump are perfectly legitimate, something, like most liberals, he deserves.
Bash had no response or defense of Graham’s criticism, shifting his focus on the recent Supreme Court oral arguments on presidential immunity. All the conservative justices showed concern, as Graham expressed, about the use of the Justice Department for political purposes. Chief Justice John Roberts hinted at what he sees a arbitrary and capricious prosecution, saying that any prosecutor can convene a grand jury and slap charges against any defendant. Bash asked Graham whether he was concerned about “catch-and-kill,” the practices of paying for a story to never publish it. Graham said Pecker made deals with other celebrities, including Tiger Woods and Arnold Schwarzenegger to buy stories for the purpose of never publishing them. Bash said Tiger Woods was not running for president, meaning they didn’t violate campaign financing or elections laws.
Bash didn’t inform her viewers that Trump’s decision to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels or Playboy Centerfold Karen McDougal was not to hide the electorate in 2016 from his past misdeeds, it was to spare his wife and family and embarrassment. Covering Trump’s hush money trial, CNN never gives any benign interpretation or benefit of the doubt to the former president. To CNN and other liberal broadcast and print outlets, Trump is guilty as charged, seeking to rush trials all before the 2024 presidential election. With polls showing Trump still in the lead against Biden, liberal news networks push to have the trials completed before the election, hoping to give Biden the edge. But, like Graham, many voters also seen the weaponization fo the criminal justice system, filing charges against Trump because they interfere with the 2024 election.
Bash didn’t help CNN’s aggressive prosecution of all of Trump’s legal problems, giving Graham to say on national TV that the charges were all politically motivated. “No! I think the whole thing is crock! The statute of limitations has long shot out the misdemeanor cases,” Graham said, disagreeing with Bragg’s hush-money case against Trump. “Alvin Bragg took a case that was rejected by the federal government to resurrect these misdemeanors. I think it’s a political hit-job on Trump six months out from the election,” Graham said, refuting CNN’s narrative that Trump deserved all the charges. Graham didn’t bring up to Bash her views on the past government investigation of Trump for allegations he colluded with the Kremlin to win the 2016 presidential election. Whatever witch-hunt went in 2016, it’s far worse today with Trump charged with 91 felonies in four separate cases.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
