CNN anchor Chris Cuomo admitted Wednesday night that former Vice President Joe Biden “absolutely” engaged in a quid pro quo with Ukraine, but followed that up with the caveat that it wasn’t for “personal advantage.”
President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow was a guest and with there being questions about whether there was a quid pro quo involved in the president’s call with the Ukrainian president, Cuomo was adamant it wasn’t “necessary for an abuse of power.”
“This isn’t about the law, this is about finding something worthy of impeachment or not,” Cuomo said. “Something can be wrong, but not a felony… An abuse of power can be wrong but not a felony.”
The CNN anchor questioned whether it was “okay” for the president to ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “help him with a political opponent.”
“That’s not what the president said in the transcript and you’ve read it and you know that it’s not what the president said,” Sekulow replied, before turning his attention on Biden.
“And Joe Biden bragged on television that he gave a prosecutor in Ukraine to be fired in six hours or a billion dollars was going to be withheld,” he continued. “Do you think that’s a quid pro quo?”
“And think it’s absolutely a quid pro quo, but it wasn’t done for personal advantage,” Cuomo admitted.
“Oh, really?” Sekulow shot back. “Chris, you know that’s not the case.”
There is a growing sentiment that the entire Pelosi head-fake toward impeachment is an attempt to run cover for Biden’s actions regarding Ukraine, and that of his son.
Meanwhile, the alleged whistleblower complaint at the center of the current firestorm is expected to be released Thursday.
That’s according to Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, who appeared Wednesday evening on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” to say the complaint concerning President Trump’s July call with Ukraine’s leader has been declassified.
“It’s been declassified and it’s been released,” Stewart told anchor Laura Ingraham. “So it should be available for everyone to go and look at.”
And the lawmaker admitted to being anxious about what was in the complaint but said that he’s “much more confident than I was this morning that this is going to go nowhere. … there are just no surprises there.”
He also tweeted: “The whistleblower complaint has been declassified. I encourage you all to read it.”
BREAKING NEWS: The whistleblower complaint has been declassified. I encourage you all to read it.
— Rep. Chris Stewart (@RepChrisStewart) September 26, 2019
This coming after Stewart tweeted earlier he reviewed the whistleblower complaint.
“I do not believe this alone warrants the impeachment of President Trump,” he said. “This complaint should be declassified and made available to the public.”
I have reviewed the whistleblower complaint made available to the House Intelligence Committee. I do not believe this alone warrants the impeachment of President Trump. This complaint should be declassified and made available to the public.
— Rep. Chris Stewart (@RepChrisStewart) September 26, 2019
More from Fox News on Trump seeking a review of Biden’s efforts to have Ukraine’s former top prosecutor fired, according to the transcripts of the call:
Joe Biden has acknowledged on camera that, when he was vice president, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire that prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the natural gas firm Burisma Holdings — where Hunter Biden had a highly lucrative role on the board paying him tens of thousands of dollars per month, despite limited relevant expertise. Shokin himself had been widely accused of corruption, while critics charged that Hunter Biden might have been essentially selling access to his father, who had pushed Ukraine to increase its natural gas production.
Trump made the request on the call for Ukraine to look into the Bidens after Zelensky first mentioned Ukraine’s corruption issues, and after Trump separately requested as a “favor” that Ukraine help investigate foreign interference in the 2016 elections, including the hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) server involving the data security company CrowdStrike.
Fox News reported that news outlets like CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post “inaccurately reported that the ‘favor’ related specifically to investigating Biden.”
As noted online by Paul Sperry, former D.C. bureau chief for Investor’s Business Daily, the two matters where not even on the same page:
https://twitter.com/paulsperry_/status/1176973045313019904?s=20
There was widespread condemnation online for what appeared to be the intentional exclusion of a large portion of the transcript, a jump of some 500 words.
Here’s a sampling of responses from Twitter:
This is one of the most deceptive pieces of reporting I have ever seen. Literally.@KatyTurNBC, you're better than this.
This is deliberate misleading of an audience. My gosh, issue a correction.pic.twitter.com/E3J5BP86CZ
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) September 25, 2019
The "favor"? Help with DOJ's probe of 2016 election meddling by Ukraine. Neither of these headlines accurately describe that. A *great* example of the corruption of our political media, which is now running and fueling the impeachment effort against its most hated political foe. https://t.co/OorlHfVulK
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 26, 2019
Hey everyone!
If you are reporting on the "favor" line from the transcript, without mentioning that the VERY next sentence is about wanting an investigation into meddling in the 2016 election…
…you are being misleading.
It's right here. Come on. pic.twitter.com/JRThTjAza9
— Andrew Clark (@AndrewHClark) September 25, 2019
CNN just skipped right over it on air earlier this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/1cirnrMglW
— Andrew Clark (@AndrewHClark) September 25, 2019
Because of course, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace skipped over HUNDREDS of words to smear President Trump.
According to the transcript, the “favor” was about the 2016 election, not about Biden. pic.twitter.com/8FTZuQj3gM
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) September 25, 2019
Hell, even some on Fox News — see Shepard Smith — went with the glaring omission.
Here’s Fox News Shep Smith going straight from “favor” to Biden and omitting a pretty critical 500+ word part of the transcript.
The “favor” was looking into 2016 election meddling. Not Biden. Why no mention of this? pic.twitter.com/T0rlpOSvTd
— Andrew Clark (@AndrewHClark) September 25, 2019
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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