If you’re a leftist and CNN’s Don Lemon is coming after you, you know you’re in trouble. Lemon is rarely able to see anything other than humility and grace in the actions of Democrats, no matter how egregious those acts are, and he’s known more for getting drunk and inking tattoos on live television than he is for fierce questioning.
It was somewhat of a surprise, then, that the morning host did not buy what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was selling Friday, even aggressively questioning the New York Democrat over his obvious hypocrisy regarding the Trump and Biden classified documents cases.
Schumer began his segment on “CNN This Morning” by parroting the recent Dem narrative that the Trump and Biden cases are different–vastly different–and claiming that Biden was transparent in his actions while Trump obstructed the DOJ. Both these claims are patently untrue: the Biden Administration has in fact been quite deceitful about the found classified documents since day one, and Trump did in fact attempt to coordinate with authorities until they raided his home, Mar-a-Lago.
Lemon, amazingly, wasn’t convinced by Schumer’s explanation:
LEMON:Just to be sure about what you said. You believe that the Biden folks are being transparent about this? You think that they’re being —
SCHUMER:I think the Biden folks, as I said, cooperated with the prosecutorial authorities from day one and Donald Trump didn’t.
LEMON:This is our report. According to one justice official … the White House public statements earlier this week offered an incomplete narrative about the classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president, reinforced the need for a special counsel. The misleading statements created the impression that Biden’s team had something to hide.
That doesn’t sound that much different than the former president. [Emphasis mine.]
Schumer tried to hide his anger, but you could tell he was ticked. He’s used to going on CNN to get fawned over, not to be questioned. He shot back:
SCHUMER:Don, there’s now a special prosecutor. Let’s see what they have to say. We can have all this speculation and comment [shakes his head derisively]. Let’s see what they have to say and let’s focus on doing things that help the American people.
In other words, “nothing to see here folks, move along.” He also knows that Garland’s quick decision to appoint a special prosecutor was made to shield the administration from public scrutiny. Now every official from Press Secretary Kristin Jean-Pierre on down can answer any question with, “we can’t talk about that because it’s under investigation.” They also know that special counsels take a ridiculously long time to reveal their findings, and the 2024 presidential election might be far in the past by the time anything happens.
Again–knock me over with a feather–Lemon kept coming:
LEMON: I have to get — I have to say this. You seem much more measured about this than with the Trump documents because you called for transparency with the documents. You wanted lawmakers to have access to the documents seized from the former president’s residence in Florida.
SCHUMER: “I said that night it was premature to comment. I stand by that,” Schumer retorted, clearly just wanting to end the discussion. “The prosecutors will get to the bottom of this, and let’s let them do it, for God’s sake. I know you want to buzz around–
Here Lemon and co-host Poppy Harlow both interrupt. What is happening over at CNN?!
LEMON: Hold on! It’s not just us buzzing, you’re the Democratic head of the Senate; this is a really important issue. It’s not just us buzzing around. This is serious stuff.
I don’t think Don Lemon is going to suddenly turn into the next Mike Wallace, and I don’t think CNN is going to be the go-to place for truth anytime soon. Still, I think it’s important to note that even leftist media organizations are noting the hypocrisy of Biden’s treatment thus far compared to Trump’s, and they’re also aware that this is a serious problem for the president–one that even may knock him out of a potential race for a second term.
Watch the full interview: