IMPEACHMENT DAY THREE Today's proceedings kicked off a short time ago. One of the first presentations, brought by Rep. Ted Lieu, was a thorough and devastating accounting of condemnations of Donald Trump’s role in the insurrection made by current and former Republican leadership. Additional footage from the assault on the Capitol was also shown, and featured the rioters quoting Trump and bragging about carrying out his will by their actions. Yesterday, Rep. Joaquin Castro introduced similar footage that showed the mob literally reading out Trump tweets. Watch the proceedings live here. And get all of Mediaite's coverage, including highlights, video and analysis, throughout the day here. "Kangaroo Court" Just ahead of day three proceedings, Sen. Josh Hawley accused Senate Democrats on Thursday of conducting a vendetta and show trial and not a genuine impeachment proceeding. “I think what we’re watching is a total kangaroo court,” Hawley said in an interview with Fox News’ Harris Faulkner. “It is an illegitimate proceeding, it is unconstitutional. "I Would Convict" Contributing Editor at National Review Andy McCarthy, a Fox News contributor, is our guest for this week's episode of The Interview. In this highlight, McCarthy explains why Donald Trump is guilty of committing impeachable offenses, and says if the evidence bears that out, the Senate should convict. Impeachment Ratings (So Far) MSNBC was the most-watched channel across the board on Tuesday, the first day of trial in the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump. CNN won big with the valuable demographic of viewers age 25-54, and Fox News topped broadcast networks CBS and ABC’s coverage of the impeachment trial. From roughly 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., as the trial was underway, MSNBC averaged 2.87 million total viewers, and 481,000 in the demo. CNN was second, averaging 2.68 million total viewers, and had the most, by far, in the demo, with 594,000. Fox was third, with 1.87 million total viewers, and 246,000 in the demo.
By comparison, ABC averaged nearly 1.8 million total viewers and 365,000 in the demo, while CBS averaged 1.74 million, and 328,000 in the demo, according to data from Nielsen. Impeachment coverage boosted MSNBC to win the most total day viewers, with an average of 2.33 million total, and 408,000 in the demo. CNN had 1.94 million total viewers, and the most in the demo, 492,000. Fox was third, with... [Read More] "Some Minds May Have Been Changed" President Joe Biden expressed confidence that new and harrowing video evidence may have convinced some Republicans to convict in the impeachment trial of ex-President Donald Trump — a notion he floated while meeting with several of the GOP senators who will cast those votes. Lindsey Graham Agrees Sen. Lindsey Graham agrees with President Biden about minds being changed. But disagreed on the direction of that change, when speaking with Fox's Sean Hannity on Wednesday night. “The not-guilty vote is growing after today. I think most Republicans found the presentation by the House managers offensive and absurd,” he said, in a segment where he claimed the Democratice arguments were "devoid of facts." Regrets In a wide ranging interview, retiring Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron discussed the world-wide embrace of conspiracy theories over facts, the resulting threat to media and democracy, and the mistakes his newspaper made in its coverage of former President Donald Trump. Rep. Raskin’s ‘Fight Like Hell’ Tweets Draw Conservative Claims of ‘Hypocrisy.’ Here’s Why Those Arguments are Mind-Numbingly Stupid. OPINION Rep. Jamie Raskin’s past tweets have been recently unearthed by conservative media outlets eager to demonstrate the alleged hypocrisy of the Lead House Impeachment Manager currently prosecuting former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment. The Save America PAC’s “Trump War Room” tweeted a “FLASHBACK” screenshot of a past Raskin tweet that the NY Post breathlessly described as expressing “notion of combat to block Republican efforts to swiftly replace the late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg” after she died last year. Raskin used the phrase “We must fight like hell to stop this assault on health care and the Constitution.” Because Raskin is leading the impeachment trial and trying to prove that President Trump incited the deadly violence on the Capitol that occurred on Jan. 6, and has cited numerous times in which Trump used the word “fight,” this is being picked up and amplified by many in the conservative media as a gotcha moment catching Raskin in some serious hypocrisy. Here’s the thing, though, and it hurts my brain even to have to point out something so banal... [Read the rest from Mediaite's Colby Hall] 6.5.0 |