Moments after the Senate acquitted President Trump of the impeachment charges against him, CNN’s The Lead looked to the future and to House Democrats who were zealously trying to drum up more impeachment charges. “Double jeopardy does not apply in politics,” chief national correspondent John King proclaimed to the rest of the panel, clearly looking for Trump to be retried on the charges he was just found “not guilty” of committing.
“And so, as the new revelations come out, whether it’s the Bolton book, whether it’s the new e-mails our Vivian Salama of CNN reporting on today that do shed new light on the controversies here,” he added.
Missing the asinine Democratic tactic of sending the charges to the Senate before finishing their investigation, King then proceeded to tout how Democrats were still trying to gather evidence for their case:
Nancy Pelosi and her House, Jerry Nadler saying today, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, they’re going to subpoena John Bolton. That’s risky, for the Democrats. That’s risky because it’s tee-ball for Trump politically to say it is gratuitous, this is all political. But, it’s also risky for all these senators who just voted on the President's side as all this new information comes out.
“So, we should pause and reflect on the history of today in the context of impeachment, this is over, but it’s not over,” he said.
Following King’s comments, host Jake Tapper agreed that their efforts to remove the President were “absolutely not” over. He then turned to liberal legal analyst Laura Coates and touted a tweet from the irrelevant Hillary Clinton:
Laura Coates, and Hillary Clinton just did a tweet: “As the President's impeachment trial began, Republican Senators pledged an oath to defend the constitution. Today, 52 of them voted to betray that oath and all of us. We’re entering dangerous territory for our Democracy,” Hillary Clinton writes, “It will take all of us working together to restore it.” So this is not the end of it.
And they say Trump was obsessed with talking about her.
A few minutes later, Tapper led the mostly liberal panel in a whine tasting session as they collectively bemoaned how Trump had shared a trolling tweet to mark his victory:
And this is what President Trump just tweeted again the moment he’s acquitted. He’s retweeting this meme – Tweeting this mem of President Trump not only winning reelection 2024, but forever, Trumpism forever. So if anybody would think that he has been chastened or humbled being only the third president in history and the only one to have votes for removal that were bipartisan, well, it’s quite the contrary.
“Is that like a monarch, a king, I’m there forever,” chief political analyst Gloria Borger huffed.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Lead
February 5, 2020
4:47:31 p.m. Eastern(…)
GLORIA BORGER: And you know, while at the outset of this, and we have all in the table lived through this through the last weeks, we have known what the final outcome was going to be. I think that going through the process was important, and it is important because you could hear from the House managers about their case, and the case they were making to the United States Senate even though they knew that they were going to lose. And they brought it all there.
And then, you heard from the White House, and the Senators sat there for hours and hours and hours without their phones, without their staff, and obviously, this is a largely partisan decision in the end.
But I think that the Mitt Romney decision and the speech that Mitt Romney made is something that will go down in history. I think it is -- you cannot underestimate how difficult it is for someone to go against his own party and be the only person doing it, and his own president.
JOHN KING Very important historic chapter closes today with the two votes, but the debate over this we’re just now going to go to the next chapter which is how does it play out in the presidential election year? How does it play out with the President's mood? We expect to hear from him. His campaign says he is totally vindicated. The House Speaker, of course, says that you are impeached forever. That is the debate for the people through this election year and beyond.
And to Jeffrey’s point and the point that George is making earlier, the President has been acquitted by the United States Senate, double jeopardy does not apply in politics. And so, as the new revelations come out, whether it’s the Bolton book, whether it’s the new e-mails our Vivian Salama of CNN reporting on today that do shed new light on the controversies here.
Nancy Pelosi and her House, Jerry Nadler saying today, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, they’re going to subpoena John Bolton. That’s risky, for the Democrats. That’s risky because it’s tee-ball for Trump politically to say it is gratuitous, this is all political. But, it’s also risky for all these senators who just voted on the President's side as all this new information comes out.
So, we should pause and reflect on the history of today in the context of impeachment, this is over, but it’s not over.
JAKE TAPPER: Absolutely not. Laura Coates, and Hillary Clinton just did a tweet: “As the President's impeachment trial began, Republican Senators pledged an oath to defend the constitution. Today, 52 of them voted to betray that oath and all of us. We’re entering dangerous territory for our Democracy,” Hillary Clinton writes, “It will take all of us working together to restore it.” So this is not the end of it.
(…)
4:54:33 p.m. Eastern
TAPPER: And if we’re wondering what President Trump’s response is going to be, you might remember last year someone created that meme on Twitter of President Trump running for reelection not only in 2024, but 2028, 2032, 20-- and it goes on forever. There it is. Here it is.
[Video]
And this is what President Trump just tweeted again the moment he’s acquitted. He’s retweeting this meme – Tweeting this meme of President Trump not only winning reelection 2024, but forever, Trumpism forever. So if anybody would think that he has been chastened or humbled being only the third president in history and the only one to have votes for removal that were bipartisan, well, it’s quite the contrary.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: And what does it mean for his behavior? Right?
BORGER: Is that like a monarch, a king, I’m there forever?
(…)
