A heated discussion sparked Monday night on CNN when a former adviser to Joe Biden called the GOP "morally bankrupt" during a discussion over reports that President-elect Donald Trump is personally lobbying Republican senators to support former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for attorney general.
Ashley Etienne told panelists she doesn't believe four Republicans will "stand up" to Trump — and block Gaetz's nomination.
"What the [House] speaker is trying to do now, Trump nominating him and the other gentleman for secretary of defense, really speaks to how morally bankrupt the Republican Party is right now," she said. "That they would try to silence a report about a member who is accused of sex trafficking and sex with a minor!"
She said Democrats will likely try to force a debate and vote on Gaetz.
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"They want Trump and the Republicans to defend these choices, defend these nominees and their actions," she added, lamenting that voters "regrettably" failed to hold Republicans and Trump "accountable" for their "contempt against women" in the last election.
Never-Trump conservative Ana Navarro agreed and said this is a new era — the "Trump era" — where laws, statutes and protocols that have historically applied "seem not to apply" to him.
She said that while two attorney general nominees had to withdraw their nominations because they employed illegal nannies, Gaetz stands accused of "sleeping with a girl who's almost young enough to need a nanny."
"And Republicans are saying, 'There's nothing to see here,'" she concluded.
The remarks drew immediate pushback from GOP strategist Erin Perrine, who insisted that Republicans "are not morally bankrupt." As Etienne started to insist that Speaker Mike Johnson said he wants to "silence" an Ethics Committee report against Gaetz, Perrine shot back, "Wait - let me finish."
She then noted that Americans overwhelming voted for Trump and Republicans in the election, showing the country doesn't agree the party is "morally bankrupt."
She also offered Democrats a piece of advice.
"If you guys want to change the conversation and you want to stop a nomination like Matt Gaetz, you gotta stop saying the Republican Party is morally bankrupt. Because the American people are going to immediately turn that off and say, "We've already voted beyond this. We're moving past this.'"
Perrine later insisted that multiple Republicans have criticized Gaetz's nomination, including Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and John Cornyn (R-TX). As Cooper tried to say he's sure many Republicans have "private doubts" Perrine shouted him down.
"We've gotta stop speaking in totalities in generalities about the Republican Party and about Donald Trump," she said. As Ettiene tried to interject, she continued: "If you guys want to ever win an election again, stop talking like this to the American people!"
"I want to have an election with a Republican who has a moral compass!" retorted Navarro.
Watch the clip below or at this link.