Key takeaways from House impeachment debate
Senate readies for January trial as full House vote looms; reaction and analysis from the 'Special Report' All-Stars.
CNN anchor Don Lemon slammed Republican lawmakers on Wednesday night, accusing them of being "enablers" of President Trump and insisted they share responsibility for his impeachment.
During his nightly primetime handoff with colleague Chris Cuomo, Lemon went to bat for former President Bill Clinton for being "contrite" and praised him for apologizing amid his own impeachment. He argued that Trump "has done none of that."
The "CNN Tonight" host said it was one thing that "struck" him as he watched Congress debate the two articles of impeachment.
"When I watched every single person, every Republican who got up today and spoke, not one of them said he did anything wrong, not one of them said that it was inappropriate, not one of them chastised him for anything he did on the call or for any of his behavior," Lemon told Cuomo. "They have been enablers throughout this entire process. They didn't say, 'Well, maybe he could've done something different, maybe what he did was inappropriate, maybe he should not have brought the Bidens up on the call, maybe he shouldn't have brought up Burisma or anything that had to do with any of his personal business. So, they have been enablers throughout this."
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Lemon continued, "So, I also blame them as well. They are responsible for his impeachment as well. It is what it is at this point. So, they are to blame, not just the president of the United States, because they have been enablers."
Many Democrats have argued that Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate the dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter in that country. Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma Holdings while his father was in the Obama administration. Trump and the White House repeatedly have denied they did anything wrong.
MSNBC host Chris Matthews also took aim at GOP lawmakers for not defending Trump's "character."
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"I've been listening and I've been watching and I've heard something that wasn't said all day," Matthews began. "Now here's a president, a human being, being accused of horrible things, of selling out his office, of trading his public trust for personal gain, a terrible assault on who he was. And yet, all day long, with all the Republican speakers, they were able to say anything they want all day long... not one Republican member of the House stood in that well and defended this president's character."
He continued, "No one person said he was an honest man, not one person said he's a good man, not one person said he could've had done something like this, and that is powerful stuff -- that a party felt that they can play all the games today. They could talk tactics and style. They talk about everybody else's situation, but they never defended the man, the person in the White House, his character. This is extraordinary."
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