As we've noted before, here, and here, CNN's Elie Honig has a habit of throwing cold water on the fever dreams of the left. and on Wednesday morning's New Day, the CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor broke out his ice bucket again. This time, it was with regard to excited liberal speculation that the Justice Department could be on the verge of prosecuting Donald Trump in connection with January 6.
Those high hopes are based on comments by Merrick Garland to Lester Holt, in which the AG told NBC's Holt that his department would prosecute "without fear or favor" anyone who interfered with the peaceful transition of power.
Lefty hopes were also buoyed by news that the Department of Justice has interviewed senior Trump administration officials, including former Pence chief of staff Marc Short, who had personal knowledge of Trump's actions and statements during the period.
Interviewed by co-host John Berman, Honig employed a mountain-climbing metaphor to curb liberal enthusiasm.
Let's say you're climbing a mountain, and you climb hard and you get to where we are now, which is they're asking questions about Donald Trump. You think, wow, that's momentous. It is momentous.
But then you look up and you think, oh, that's a pretty steep climb to him becoming a target! DOJ often does send target letters. And the you look up, and there's an even higher, rockier cliff to get to indictment. That is a massive, massive leap from investigating to indictment.
And then, way, way up, miles up in the distance, even rockier, is to conviction. The road from where we are now to indictment, to conviction, is incredibly long, steep and treacherous.
So this is really important, but nobody should be talking about Donald Trump in an orange jumpsuit. That is vastly premature, and we're nowhere near that now.
Such a killjoy, that Honig!
Note: Berman went with Honig's mountain-climbing metaphor, saying it sounded like he was saying to take a break, eat some trail mix, and "don't bonk," the latter word being slang for getting suddenly exhausted during exertion. Berman has experience with the phenomenon, having "bonked" while running the Boston Marathon earlier this year, spending three days in hospital to recover.
On CNN's New Day, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig saying it's "vastly premature" to talk about Donald Trump "in an orange jumpsuit" was sponsored in part by Liberty Mutual, Sleep Number, and Salonpas.
Here's the transcript.
CNN's New Day
7/27/22
6:17 am EDTJOHN BERMAN: Merrick Garland said a lot of words on TV to Lester Holt in not answering many of the questions that Lester was posing to him. But where is he, Elie, based on the actions that we now know?
ELIE HONIG: Yeah, so, it's the Merrick Garland daily affirmation seemingly now, where he says we will follow the facts where they take us. And I don't want to be glib about that, because that's all he can say.
But I do want to -- let me make an analogy of where this is, okay? I know we're all experienced outdoorspeople. Let's say you're climbing a mountain, and you climb hard and you get to where we are now, which is they're asking questions about Donald Trump. You think, wow, that's momentous. It is momentous.
But then you look up and you think, oh, that's a pretty steep climb to him becoming a target! DOJ often does send target letters. And the you look up, and there's an even higher, rockier cliff to get to indictment. That is a massive, massive leap from investigating to indictment.
And then, way, way up, miles up in the distance, even rockier, is to conviction. The road from where we are now to indictment, to conviction, is incredibly long, steep and treacherous.
So this is really important, but nobody should be talking about Donald Trump in an orange jumpsuit. That is vastly premature, and we're nowhere near that now.
BERMAN: Time for some trail mix on the climb.
HONIG: Is that what outdoors people eat?
BERMAN: It sounds like what you're saying is, take a break, have some trail mix, keep your energy up.
HONIG: M&M's mostly.
BERMAN: Don't bonk.
BRIANNA KEILAR: Totally M&Ms, mostly.
