Conservative Anchor Says Donald Trump Has Been ‘Undoubtedly Damaged’ By Impeachment Hearings
Republican CNN host S.E. Cupp used the Saturday edition of her show, S.E. Cupp Unfiltered, to touch on the impeachment probe into Donald Trump and how it has affected him thus far, Newsweek reports.
According to Cupp, who has regularly criticized him through both his 2016 campaign and his time in the White House, Trump’s continued support from the GOP hasn’t helped him escape damage from the inquiry.
“These hearings, in which career civil servants and Trump appointees shared their serious concerns and the facts of the case, that Trump abused his office for his own political gain have undoubtedly damaged the president.”
Cupp claimed that the GOP was “left floundering” to defend Trump as he continued to admit to the accusations against him. She then blasted the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who is accused of helping Trump run the alleged pressure campaign on Ukraine at the center of the impeachment probe. In particular, Cupp criticized Giuliani’s recent trip to Ukraine ?— a reported attempt to continue investigating Trump’s rivals — and noted that he is “doing exactly the thing” that sparked the inquiry.
Regardless, Cupp noted that the country is still divided over impeachment and asserted her belief that no Republican will vote in support of the Articles of Impeachment being drafted by the House Judiciary Committee.
After the appetizers of the Mueller report and the Ukraine hearings, we're about to get to the main course… articles of impeachment. Now @secupp is here to tell you who's going to be footing the bill for this feast. pic.twitter.com/zaK5PdN19d
— SE Cupp Unfiltered (@UnfilteredSE) December 8, 2019
Trump is not the only one that might not leave the impeachment probe unscathed. Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and former U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker are accused of being involved in the scandal. Joining them is ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes, who allegedly met with Ukrainian officials as part of Trump’s reported pressure campaign.
Per CNN, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland said in his November testimony that “everyone was in the loop” about the White House’s Ukraine relations.
“I know that members of this committee frequently frame these complicated issues in the form of a simple question: Was there a quid pro quo? As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and the White House meeting, the answer is yes.”
“Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret,” he added.
Sondland also claimed that Trump only required Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce investigations into his political rivals ?— not actually conduct them. If true, this claim harms Trump’s defense that the inquiries were intended to address corruption and supports the notion that they were for the president’s political gain.
