CNN’s Chris Cuomo closed an interview with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) by dismissing his doubts about the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation as a “false equivalency” designed to “offset the Russia probe.”
On New Day Wednesday morning, Cuomo accused Jordan and Congressional Republicans of having an “insatiable appetite to paint the FBI as dirty and trying to manipulate the election to help Trump.” Cuomo obviously meant to say either “hurt Trump” or “help Clinton” rather than “help Trump.”
Cuomo dismissed the text messages between FBI Agent Peter Stzrok and Attorney Lisa Page as “dialogue between two lovers” with no relevance to the FBI investigation as a whole. When Jordan pointed out the irrelevance of the fact that Stzrok and Page were in a romantic relationship, Cuomo said “It doesn’t suit your narrative. If you write them off as lovers who are just bandying about B.S., your, your story doesn’t stand up so well.” On the other hand, the media downplays the idea of foul play in the Russia probe because that doesn’t suit their narrative.
Later, Jordan brought up the “insurance policy” discussed in one of the text messages, suggesting that the FBI wanted to undermine a potential Trump administration.Cuomo said “you don’t know what he meant by an insurance policy and it’s just as out of context as the secret society and all of the stupid other things that you guys...”
Jordan also raised doubts about the FBI’s handling of the Clinton e-mail investigation, which Cuomo also dismissed. Jordan cited Page’s comment referring to Loretta Lynch’s decision to recuse herself from the investigation after her infamous encounter on the tarmac of the Phoenix Airport with Bill Clinton as “no profile in courage” because the FBI and DOJ had no intention of bringing any charges against in the first place. Cuomo dismissed lawyers arguing that a strong case exists against Hillary Clinton as “people who just want to be on TV and talk.” At least Jordan got Cuomo to admit that the tarmac exchange was a mistake.
The media will continue to dismiss any allegations of impropriety against the FBI as “nefarious” while continuing to play up the Russia narrative, even after more than a year of investigations has yielded no evidence of collusion.
