'You have to focus': Rick Santorum sputters in defeat as entire CNN panel beats him down for lying about impeachment
CNN conservative contributor Rick Santorum, a former Republican senator, took on an entire panel of CNN experts on Wednesday about the legitimacy of impeaching President Donald Trump.
As members of the U.S. House of Representatives were debating articles of impeachment, Santorum told legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin that Trump has done nothing to interfere in 2020 election because his deal with Ukraine fell through.
One panelist admitted that "we don't know" if Trump is currently taking actions to illegally interfere in the 2020 election.
"Oh, we don't know," Santorum said sarcastically. "We've been through 'we don't know' for two and a half year! And it's been debunked!"
"He just asked China to interfere," CNN host Anderson Cooper pointed out. "And he asked Ukraine to interfere. He did that on the front lawn of the White House."
"The president believes," Santorum stuttered, "you may not believe it -- but the president believes there is -- there is corruption going on at the very highest levels with certain members of the Democratic Party and in the prior administration. And he wants that to be looked at."
"Him asking China to investigate the Bidens, you're saying that's a legitimate thing?" Cooper asked.
"All I know is that both in the case of Ukraine and the case of China, Hunter Biden, simply because he's the [vice president's] son, made a boat load of money," Santorum said.
"That's not all you know," Cooper shot back. "What you know is there's an election coming up and you know that Joe Biden is running against the president and you know that this will have an impact on that election."
"The problem is that we've seen a pattern where the president has been unjustly accused," Santorum opined. "And -- and we've seen... intentional efforts to hurt this president!"
"Wait," Cooper interrupted. "So the president is going to the Ukraine because he can't trust the FBI to investigate the former vice president of the United States. He trusts the corrupt regime of the Ukraine, which he says is corrupt."
"Do you know how dangerous it is for the FBI to do what they did?" Santorum shouted. "I'm just saying we have a president who has been under siege, who know has -- has, through this FISA [abuse] through this report by [Inspector General Horowitz]."
"But intellectually, your argument doesn't make sense," Cooper noted. "You say, well, he can't trust the FBI so, of course, it's natural he would go to Ukraine to launch an investigation against the former vice president of the United States. There are plenty of people in the United States, in the government who could investigate the former vice president if it was legitimate. He knows it's not legitimate so he's going to Ukraine to just say they're going to investigate. He doesn't even care if there's an investigation."
Santorum was momentarily silenced by Cooper's recitation of the facts.
But he quickly shook it off: "We don't have direct evidence! And -- and, I understand you say, we should -- we should get the direct evidence from the president -- you have to take your time to do that."
"You have to focus on actually why we're here," analyst Laura Coats told Santorum. "It's an impeachment, which means only the president could be subject to that. Hunter Biden is not the president, Joe Biden is not the president -- not for lack of trying, quite frankly."
"What we're focusing on is whether or not these two articles of impeachment are viable enough to remove the president of the United States," Coats said. "What you are asserting is there is no sound argument, even grounds for debate."
"I didn't say there was no sound argument," Santorum complained.
"I'm going to finish," Coats continued. "No grounds for debating the fact that there could be an abuse of power because there is some lack of direct evidence. But you also know that's a circular argument that you're making."
"I think the plausible case to make," Santorum admitted. "I don't agree with it. I think they're wrong. I don't think the evidence supports that. And I do believe, contrary to you, that there is a procedure by which you determine that the president is obstructing justice and you have to go through the court first."
Santorum was quickly reminded by the panel that other presidents have cooperated with impeachment inquiries, but Trump has refused to allow witnesses to testify or provide documents.
"Donald Trump is the first president to have stonewalled every request," panelist Timothy Naftali. "So it's not just scale, it's venue."
"The reality is, they've been trying to impeach this president from the very beginning," Santorum shot back sourly. "That's the context."
"We're only here because the president's reckless, self-destructive behavior," another panelist said.
"The Democrats didn't start the Mueller investigation," Democratic analyst Kirsten Powers observed. "That was done by the DOJ. So I don't understand how they are getting blamed for that."
Watch the video below from CNN.