by Chris Cuomo
CNN
Dec 23, 2020
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[Chris Cuomo] We do have breaking news. In 24 hours, just the past 24 hours, this President has vetoes pay for the military, stalled relief for millions of you, and issued the most toxic tally of pardons we have EVER seen: 26 new Trump pardons tonight. Gifts to many convicted criminals that you know well, who did HORRIBLE things -- many admitted it. And then he left to go golfing in Florida. After vetoing pay for the military! After leaving relief in limbo! Millions of Americans don't have food for Christmas, let alone money for heat or gifts. And he knows it! And he doesn't sign the relief bill, AND he doesn't veto it! So he knows NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!
There is a gift in this moment, and I hope you decide to accept it, once and for all. It is a gift of ultimate clarity about this outgoing President. Democrats, Independents, REAL Republicans -- you all now know, just based on the last 24 hours alone, this guy is THE WORST EVER! He is the WORST President we have EVER seen! PERIOD! He has not only proved to be incompetent, but he is indeed TRULY inhumane! He has denied the hungry; he has denied our warriors; he has denied a pandemic, and he does not give a DAMN about ANYTHING but lying about it all, and faking his own greatness! THAT IS THE TRUTH! It is demonstrated by EVERYTHING we have seen. It MUST be his legacy! And those who have ignored and powered him, those who have solicited this brand of his own HORRIBLE actions towards others, are complicit. He must be remembered as the worst, if only for this alone, and if ONLY this is what we had seen it would already make him the worst.
On top of years of perfidy, of deceit, of lies, OF VICIOUSNESS towards those who need protection consistently, you literally have seen NOTHING to feel any other way! And yet you do. But no more. This has to be a bottom! He MUST be seen as the worst, and we must run away from him and this type of behavior as fast as we ever have collectively as a country before.
Anybody who wants to continue his kind of just CROOKED ways must be condemned, and early. Because this cannot be repeated! That would be a shame on us. The headliners he pardoned tonight? Those who kept their mouth shut.
Former Trump Campaign Chairman, Paul Manafort
Former Trump Campaign Adviser, Roger Stone
Jared Kushner's Father: Charles Kushner
Family by extension: Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Charles Kushner that is the father of his son-in-law Jared. Law and order? The pro-law enforcement President? GIVE ME A BREAK! He just UNDID hard work of law enforcement who made the cases against these crooks! This country pursued justice against those who did wrong. He just undid it! Not because there are new reckonings in the case. But because it's ALL ABOUT HIM SAVING FACE! Both Stone and Manafort were indicted by Special Counsel Bob Mueller. They went to trial! They were convicted by juries of multiple crimes! Stone, a longtime ally; Manafort, his former campaign chair; and Kusher -- you may not know about him, but I'll give you the thumbnail that's all you need to know. He pleaded guilty to tax evasion and retaliating against a federal witness, and lying to the FEC. He was prosecuted in the early 2000s by then U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, and then Christie, of course, became Trump's transition chair. Well, what's so bad about that? It's the father-in-law, it's his son-in-law's father. Isn't that the right thing? Kushner is no ordinary white-collar criminal. This man set up his own brother-in-law with a prostitute, and then sent the video to his sister! That is the kind of thing that only Trump would see a pardon available.
He commuted Stone's sentence for obstruction of Congress, threatening a witness earlier this year before he was set to surrender. We know why he did it. Roger Stone is many things, but one of them is loyal to those he sees as on his side. Trump returned the favor.
Manafort has been home serving confinement after COVID. This is no mercy pardon. These are rewards. You notice what Manafort never did, right? He never talked about Trump. Not a word.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse put out a statement tonight calling it all "rotten to the core." Welcome to the party, brother! Welcome to the party! The time is over for your delicate dance! Sasse, you've got a great future for your party, you have a potential future in this country -- YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN SAYING THAT ALL ALONG! By the way, Sasse has been one of the MOST rational!
We now should have clarity! Trump is THE WORST. We have never seen ANYTHING like this! This kind of insensitivity to humanity! This disrespect of justice! He is LITERALLY no friend to justice! And he's the President! Think about it!
The pardons have implications, and we will discuss them tonight with some of the best minds in the business. But you have to just keep your eye on the urgency that this President has just ignored. The man has gone to Florida after blowing up the relief bill! He won't sign it! He stalled it! He DID veto pay for troops so at least Congress can work on overriding it! But if you are going to do something about the relief bill, you've got to do it! WALK THE WALK! WHY DIDN'T YOU VETO THE BILL?! Why didn't you then, if you weren't going to veto it, tell McCarthy to meet Pelosi on the floor and vote it out? Why didn't you make a deal? WHY DID YOU LEAVE? WHY DID YOU LEAVE?!
If you believe in a God, I don't care what your religion is, WHO DOES THIS?! By all accounts you are not working on a deal! EVERY DAY YOU GOLF! Every day you delay is another day of paralyzing pain in a country that YOU OWE! And you KNOW this! And you won't veto, so there can be some kind of action! You won't tell your minions to meet Pelosi. WHY?! WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?! What did you REALLY DO THIS FOR?! How can the answer not be YOU? How can the truth not be that you wanted to LOOK the part of the hero just when you're trying to undo democracy, even though you know you would torpedo a compromise that has been MONTHS in the making that you ignored while your people helped negotiate?!
It is the WORST you could do in this situation. And you MADE this situation! You IGNORED this pandemic! You made a BAD play. You thought if you ignored it, it would go away, and the economy would be okay, and you would win, and you were WRONG! And you DOUBLED-DOWN on dumb! And this time, it bit ALL OF US in the ass!
And then you leave, almost assuring NO ACTION on the relief! At least you vetoed the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act so you can set up a possible override. Yeah, it's going to pit members of your party against each other, but you know what? They need to do that anyway! The Republicans have to figure out WHAT THE HELL they are about anymore! Are you really just ReTrumplicans? You seem confused! Well, you should have clarity, too. This man is the worst! He has been TERRIBLE for your party, because nobody knows what the hell you're about anymore, and neither do you!
Why did Trump REALLY veto this bill? A lot of people in his own party say, "Well, it's to show Mitch, that Mitch should have helped him more in overturning the election!" Can you imagine what it means about WHERE THE HELL WE ARE in this country that Republicans can say that with sober mind? People are STARVING! And what he just did with the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act, is even WEIRDER! Why? "Well, he doesn't like this Section 230!" This fringe! Now look. Of course we have to figure out what to do when it comes to what's right and wrong on the Internet, and is it really like newspapers, or not, and the right of the publishers, and are they publishers? We have to work through it! But NOT THIS WAY! Not right before Christmas! Not when you're going to leave town! Not with people starving!
HE IS THE WORST WE HAVE EVER SEEN! And the only reason you would defend that is because you don't want to give in to the status quo. But what are you saying when you decide to reject the status quo by making it worse? By injecting the political equivalent of a virus into our political corpus? And that's what Trump is!
He is NOT a cure! He has NEVER been a cure! He was NEVER going to be a cure! HE WAS INJECTED AS A VIRUS TO MAKE THE SYSTEM SICK, AND HE HAS! AND NOW WE ARE ON OUR KNEES IN THIS COUNTRY!
And the ONLY chance for us to get to a better place is to recognize what we have had all along: the ability to come together, to be about a common cause, and to DEMAND BETTER from the men and women that we invest with power to do our business! IF YOU EXPECT NOTHING, YOU GET THIS! WE MUST CHANGE! Let it be a gift to us before this Christmas. HE IS THE WORST! We must get better from here.