On Thursday's New Day, CNN's Alisyn Camerota was seen pressing Republican Senator Mike Lee from the left on President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on global warming.
But, later in the program during an interview with Democratic Senator Ed Markey, the same Camerota merely asked for his reaction and then did not challenge his left-wing response.
At 6:58 a.m. ET, toward the end of an interview in which the subject of the Russia investigation was discussed, the CNN host brought up the issue of Syria and Nicaragua being the only two other countries not supporting the Paris Agreement. Camerota: "Do you feel comfortable now that if they pull -- if we pull out -- that the U.S. is following the lead of Syria and Nicaragua?"
After the Utah Republican brushed off the question, the CNN host twice followed up:
But we would be with them. I mean, we would be standing with those two countries and not standing with the 195 others that feel that it's important to be in the Paris Accord. ... But, I mean, keeping company with Syria and Nicaragua is also sometimes eyebrow-raising.
An hour and a half later, Senator Markey was allowed to spend almost two minutes railing against President Trump without any challenge. Camerota brought up the subject by asking: "Paris Climate Accord, what happens if today President Trump pulls out of that?"
The Massachusetts Democrat began his response:
If President Trump announces that he is going to unilaterally pull the United States out of the climate accord that the rest of the world has signed on to with the exception of Syria and Nicaragua, then it will be an economic, a national security, a public health, and a moral failure for the United States of America.
After Markey had ranted uninterrupted for almost two minutes, Camerota simply concluded the interview: "Senator Ed Markey, thank you very much for your perspective."
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Thursday, June 1, New Day on CNN:
6:58 a.m. ET
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Do you feel comfortable now that if they pull -- if we pull out -- that the U.S. is following the lead of Syria and Nicaragua?SENATOR MIKE LEE (R-UT): No. We're in a completely different league from those countries.
CAMEROTA: But we would be with them. I mean, we would be standing with those two countries and not standing with the 195 others that feel that it's important to be in the Paris Accord.
LEE: Look, the fact that there are 195 other countries who want to do something that may not be in the United States' best interests -- as I believe it's not -- is not a good reason for us to go there.
CAMEROTA: But, I mean, keeping company with Syria and Nicaragua is also sometimes eyebrow-raising.
LEE: Sure. And so is keeping company with 195 countries who want to do something that would not be in the interests of the American people.
(...)
8:38 a.m. ET
CAMEROTA: Paris Climate Accord, what happens if today President Trump pulls out of that?SENATOR ED MARKEY (D-MA): If President Trump announces that he is going to unilaterally pull the United States out of the climate accord that the rest of the world has signed on to with the exception of Syria and Nicaragua, then it will be an economic, a national security, a public health, and a moral failure for the United States of America.
(...)
MARKEY: Donald Trump is like JFK in reverse. He is saying we can't do it, we can't have a clean energy revolution, we can't move to non-fossil fuel-burning vehicles. And the rest of the world is going to move in that direction, and we are going to lose millions of jobs for hard-working Americans because the President is going to honor a promise to the coal industry rather than the promise that he should be honoring to the rest of the world and to that future generations of Americans.
CAMEROTA: Senator Ed Markey, thank you very much for your perspective.
