Saturday’s abbreviated impeachment hearing was the first time President Trump’s legal team was able to have the Senate floor all to themselves during opening arguments, and the liberal media were not happy about it. All three of the broadcast networks used their evening newscasts to decry and whine about the arguments Trump’s legal team were making.
“Tonight, President Trump's legal team didn't even warm up, opening their defense straight to the point,” ABC special correspondent Kyra Phillips began her World News Tonight report. She then complained that Trump lawyer Pat Cipollone was “getting personal, attacking lead House manager Adam Schiff, going after his summary of the President's phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky at the center of it all.”
Schiff’s “summary” of the phone call? That was some major spin from Phillips in order to obfuscate the fact that Schiff had opened up the impeachment hearings by reading from his totally fabricated transcript of the call.
Phillips went on to huff: “In their two-hour presentation, the President's lawyers repeatedly discrediting the Democrats' evidence that President Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rivals by withholding military aid.” She also didn’t appear to like reporting how “Some Republican senators saying the defense's case is off to a good start.”
Over on CBS Weekend News, chief congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes seemed to disapprove of how “White House counsel Pat Cipollone kicked off the defense by casting the President as the victim of an unfair impeachment.”
In paraphrasing the argument from Trump lawyer Michael Purpura as “They insisted there were other reasons for the hold” on military aid to Ukraine, Cordes declared “Those claims run counter to witness testimony.”
Cordes followed up with a soundbite of U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland claiming “Was there a quid pro quo? The answer is yes.” She failed to note that that testimony from Sondland had run counter to his original testimony.
“Republican senators praised the presentation,” she added with a noticeable groan.
AS for the part of NBC Nightly News, White House correspondent Geoff Bennett griped about how “The President's attorneys also attempting to undercut the credibility of key House witnesses. Including Gordon Sondland who spoke directly with Mr. Trump about the hold on military aid to Ukraine.”
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
January 25, 2020
6:35:14 p.m. EasternTOM LLAMAS: Now the White House's turn on the floor of the Senate. President Trump's defense team on the offense today, accusing the Democrats using the impeachment process as a plot to overthrow the 2016 election. This as House impeachment managers filed more than 28,000 pages of their trial records with the secretary of the Senate. ABC’s Kyra Phillips on the hill for us tonight.
[Cut to video]
KYRA PHILLIPS: Tonight, President Trump's legal team didn't even warm up, opening their defense straight to the point.
PAT CIPOLLONE (President Trump’s Legal Team): You will find that the President did absolutely nothing wrong.
PHILLIPS: Even getting personal, attacking lead House manager Adam Schiff, going after his summary of the President's phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky at the center of it all.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): This is the essence of what the President communicates [Transition] I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand? Lots of it.
MICHAEL PURPURA (President Trump’s Legal Team): That's fake. That's not the real call.
PHILLIPS: In their two-hour presentation, the President's lawyers repeatedly discrediting the Democrats' evidence that President Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rivals by withholding military aid.
PURPURA: Most of the Democratic witnesses have never spoken to the President at all, let alone about Ukraine security assistance.
PHILLIPS: President Trump blasting the quote, “totally partisan impeachment hoax.” While his defense team suggested the Democrats are using the trial to influence the election.
CIPOLLONE: They're asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country.
PHILLIPS: Some Republican senators saying the defense's case is off to a good start.
SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA) Our team entirely shredded the case that has been presented by the House managers.
(…)
CBS Weekend News
January 25, 2020
6:33:43 p.m. EasternMAJOR GARRETT: The President's legal team kicked off their opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial today. Mr. Trump weighed in, of course, on Twitter. Quote: "Any fair-minded person watching the Senate trial today would be able to see how unfairly I have been treated." Nancy Cordes tonight on the President's defense.
[Cuts to video]
PAT CIPOLLONE (President Trump’s Legal Team): You will find that the President did absolutely nothing wrong.
NANCY CORDES: White House counsel Pat Cipollone kicked off the defense by casting the President as the victim of an unfair impeachment.
CIPOLLONE: They're asking you to remove President Trump from the ballot in an election that's occurring in approximately nine months.
CORDES: The President's defense team took aim at the central allegation, that President Trump withheld vital aid to pressure Ukraine into investigating his campaign rival.
MICHAEL PURPURA (President Trump’s Legal Team): There is simply no evidence anywhere that President Trump ever linked security assistance to any investigations.
CORDES: They insisted there were other reasons for the hold.
JAY SEKULOW (President Trump’s Legal Team): Foreign aid generally was undergoing a review in 2019.
PURPURA: The President, rightly, had real concerns about whether European and other countries were contributing their fair share to ensuring Ukraine's security.
CORDES: Those claims run counter to witness testimony.
AMB. GORDON SONDLAND: Was there a quid pro quo? The answer is yes.
CORDES: The defense suggested they were uninformed.
PURPURA: Most of the Democrats' witnesses have never spoken to the President at all.
CORDES: Democrats seized on that point to push for more testimony, blocked by the White House.
(…)
CORDES: Republican senators praised the presentation.
(…)
