Inside Politics host and upcoming CNN presidential debate moderator Dana Bash worried on Wednesday that “baseless claims” against the Department of Justice by Republicans could hurt Democrats from President Joe Biden on down.
Following a report from Congressional correspondent Lauren Fox where Fox argued that claims of DOJ weaponization against Donald Trump are false because of ongoing cases Sen. Robert Menendez and Rep. Henry Cuellar, Bash turned to Washington Post Live anchor Leigh Ann Caldwell and asked, “Leigh Ann, is it your sense that Democrats who are on the front line, which is when it comes to getting majority back, whether they believe that these attacks on DOJ, these claims, baseless claims that the DOJ is behind, for example, what happened in New York is potent enough to hurt not just President Biden, but down-ballot.”
CNN thinks Justice Samuel Alito’s wife flying Revolution-era flags outside their home means the Supreme Court is facing a legitimacy crisis, but the number three official in the Biden DOJ leaving to prosecute Trump is something that is not even worth discussing. Bash’s remarks also raise the prospect of her trying to have a Candy Crowley moment in a few weeks.
As for Caldwell, she replied, “So, there’s a little bit of a split opinion on how Democrats are going to handle these attacks from Republicans, these attacks from Donald Trump and Donald Trump’s own conviction. Democratic leadership has the opinion that they should not focus on this stuff. They should defend themselves, of course, but not focus on this. Instead focus on what have Republicans done for you lately.”
She further claimed, “Now, it depends on each district and there are some there’s, you know, district by district, some members are going focus– are going to highlight Trump’s conviction, going to highlight Republican antics against the Department of Justice, but it plays into this larger scheme generally speaking, regardless of how aggressively each individual member’s going to play on this, that it’s a MAGA– MAGA extreme party who doesn’t have any answers economically to help people. And this is all that they’re interested in.”
With the first presidential debate roughly three weeks away, one of the moderators is worrying that one of the candidates might suffer from “baseless” attacks. The debate should be one-on-one not one-on-two or three.
Here is a transcript for the June 5 show:
CNN Inside Politics with Dana Bash
6/5/2024
12:21 PM ET
DANA BASH: Leigh Ann, is it your sense that Democrats who are on the front line, which is when it comes to getting majority back, whether they believe that these attacks on DOJ, these claims, baseless claims that the DOJ is behind, for example, what happened in New York is potent enough to hurt not just President Biden, but down-ballot.
LEIGH ANN CALDWELL: So, there’s a little bit of a split opinion on how Democrats are going to handle these attacks from Republicans, these attacks from Donald Trump and Donald Trump’s own conviction. Democratic leadership has the opinion that they should not focus on this stuff. They should defend themselves, of course, but not focus on this. Instead focus on what have Republicans done for you lately.
Now, it depends on each district and there are some there’s, you know, district by district, some members are going focus– are going to highlight Trump’s conviction, going to highlight Republican antics against the Department of Justice, but it plays into this larger scheme generally speaking, regardless of how aggressively each individual member’s going to play on this, that it’s a MAGA– MAGA extreme party who doesn’t have any answers economically to help people. And this is all that they’re interested in.