December 13, 2018

Today's discussion between Fox and Friends and Judge Napolitano exploded as Napolitano explained how things like "courts" and "federal judges" and "evidence" work.

On Wednesday, Michael Cohen was sentenced and the AMI deal (National Enquirer) was announced. All of it was bad news for the White House, and yet that didn't produce a Trump tweet.

Really? No Fox and Friends Trump tweet? Donald partakes in those so often while viewing his favorite morning cable show.

It was missing this morning for good reason.

After Michael Cohen's sentencing yesterday, Fox News' senior legal analyst and a friend of Trump told Shepard Smith that it looks like there is corroborating evidence that Trump committed a crime.

During the first hour of Fox and Friends Napolitano joined Trump's favorite propaganda team of three, (it would be four if Pete Hegseth were there), and immediately he put them on their back heels.

Brian Kilmeade opened by saying Michael Cohen should be happy that he only got three years, but Napolitano said, "Well, nobody is happy about going to jail."

As Napolitano continued to describe what happened in yesterday's courtroom, he said, "The judge's finding that the president ordered and paid for Michael Cohen to commit a crime. That is very telling."

Steve Doocy perked up, "What crime?"

Napolitano: "The intentional deception and failure to report campaign payments -- "

Now the Trump apologists kicked into action as all three began cross-talking until Doocy got the mic. Many Fox News hosts make believe that everything Trump tells the press is always 100% the truth.

Doocy: Donald Trump has said that was not a campaign violation because it wasn't involving the campaign. It was a damage control payment."

That's a new one. "Damage control"?

Damage control! Where's Scotty, Spock?

Napolitano dismissed that completely and explained the trouble Donald is in:

"Unfortunately, the president wasn’t in the courtroom, and the people who were, the federal prosecutors, who had a statement from David Pecker, the guy that owns the — National Enquirer said it was for the campaign, the prosecutors said it was for the campaign, Michael Cohen said it was for the campaign," he said.

Judge Nap continued, "The president wasn’t there. Maybe he should have had lawyers there. So, if you make an honest mistake in failing to report something, or if you take $100,000 and you’re only supposed to take $2,500, you can correct that by returning the money, paying a fine and correcting the report. If you do this as part of a scheme to hide it, then it’s not a civil wrong, then it’s a crime. That’s what the judge found yesterday.”

Kilmeade followed the Trump apologist-approved handbook by implementing the #whataboutobama meme and brought in Rev. Wright -- Reverend freaking Wright - which made no sense at all.

That's desperation.

Kilmeade: "Well, if, like, for example, Reverend Wright is speaking out, making President Obama -- candidate Obama look bad, and he -- and someone walks up to Reverend Wright and says, "Hey, could you stop making the president -- the senator look bad? He's running for president."

"What does that have to do with the campaign? But yet, it is -- how -- that might influence how I vote," Kilmeade said.

Obama never paid off Rev. Wright for his silence about the knowledge that he had an affair during the campaign, you twit.

Napolitano: "Unfortunately, the court and the prosecutors, who work for the president, disagree with him."

Then came #whataboutjohnedwards

Doocy: "Yeah, but they went after John Edwards for essentially the same idea because there was money paid to a woman who he had had an affair with and had a child. That went to court, that went to trial, and he was found not guilty."

There was no corroborating evidence against John Edwards, Steve.

Napolitano: "The John Edwards case actually hurts the president. Because John Edwards' lawyers made a motion to dismiss the indictment saying it's not a crime, and the judge published an opinion saying why it's a crime. Now, the jury didn't believe the government and believed John Edwards. But the fact of the matter is, any scheme to defraud the government by failing to report what must be reported is a crime unless it's an honest mistake in which case it's not a scheme."

And between Michael Cohen's tape of Trump discussing the illegal payments to AMI, Cohen's own testimony and David Pecker's agreement with the Southern District of NY, there is a ton of evidence to back up the government's case against Trump.

Ainsley changed topics to Cohtimes actual jail tme and the segment ended.

Any tweets today, Donald?

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon