‘Give me a break’: CNN analyst explains why Trump defense of Rudy Giuliani was terrible

While the Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump paused for a dinner break, CNN analysts responded to the White House's afternoon defense of the president was by blaming the Biden family.

Political commentator Gloria Borger noted that Trump lawyer, Eric Herschmann, going after former President Barack Obama just seemed desperate.

"Give me a break," she said. "What does that have to do with any of this right now? His defense boiled down to, 'He did it, so what? He did it. He was trying to root out corruption.' But if he was concerned about rooting out corruption, why haven't we seen more of that? His defense was, 'He had a reason to do it. It's OK. Therefore it was in the national interest.' This wasn't just about Joe Biden."

When it came to the defense of Rudy Giuliani, Borger pointed out why the case flopped too.

"The Giuliani defense is, 'He's a bit player. He didn't have anything to do with this,'" she summarized. "Nevermind that in a May 23rd meeting, with the three amigos, the president said the Ukrainians have been trying -- they're out to get me. Talk to Rudy. They had come back from the inauguration. They were excited about getting this money to Ukraine and the president said, 'Talk to Rudy.'"

She continued, bringing up many of the instances in which the president specifically cited Giuliani or the evidence showing Giuliani's involvement.

"Nevermind that Rudy Giuliani wrote a letter [below] to Zelensky saying, 'I'm representing the president of the United States. I'm his personal attorney,'" Borger continued. He was called a colorful diversion, a minor player, a shiny object designed to distract you because the Democrats did pay an awful lot of attention to Rudy Giuliani. The reason they did that is because they were trying to show you that Rudy Giuliani was actually running foreign policy here for his own personal benefit and they were -- the president's attorneys were saying, 'That's really not the case. Don't pay attention to Rudy. Not important.'"

See her comments in the video and the Giuliani-signed letter below: