Panelists clashed on the Fox News program "Outnumbered" after a host insisted there can't be a coverup if there's no crime.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) accused President Donald Trump of engaging in a "coverup" by blocking former officials and associates from testifying before Congress, and the president reacted with a self-pitying rant outside the White House after walking out of a meeting with Democratic leadership.
"That meeting was never going to be any good, there was never going to be anything that ever came out of that," said host Chris Stirewalt. "The use of the phrase 'coverup,' remember when the attorney general talked about spying and everybody freaked out? Okay, you want me to say surveillance. You say potato, I say po-tah-toe."
Host Harris Faulkner cut him off: "There's never a legal coverup."
Stirewalt insisted a coverup could be legal, and Faulkner challenged him to explain.
"There's all kinds of ways legally that you can conceal your activities from other people seeing them," he said.
Co-host Melissa Francis asked what crime Trump is accused of covering up, and co-host Katie Pavlich called the Democratic leadership "complete cowards."
"They’re acting like engaging in an impeachment-like behavior without going forward with it because they know politically it’s not a good 2020 move for them," Pavlich said. "They’re trying to appease their far-left base. When it comes to the cover-up, they’re moving the goal posts in terms of the narrative here, and it’s, well, you know the cover-up is worse than the crime, even though there was no crime that was committed according to the Mueller report."
Co-host Jessica Tarlov argued that Trump and his administration may have committed multiple crimes, including refusing to comply with subpoenas and obstruction of justice -- and the panel descended into chaos.
"I’m answering your questions," Tarlov said, as the other panelists peppered her. "I don’t know what more I can do here. I said it in plain English."
