Veteran investigative journalist Carl Bernstein clashed with former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum about President Trump’s efforts to block witness testimony and documents during impeachment proceedings.
During a fiery exchange Monday evening on CNN where both are political commentators, the Watergate sleuth argued Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have “impeded facts from the beginning.” Santorum faulted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not waiting for the dispute to play out in the courts before sending articles of impeachment, one of which is obstruction of Congress, to the Senate.
As Democrats voice concerns about the Republican Senate majority’s fast-paced plan for impeachment they claim has “no evidence,” Santorum, a senator from Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2017 and two-time GOP presidential candidate, reasoned, “It is up to the House of Representatives to present the case.”
Challenging the Trump defender, Bernstein asked, “Who wouldn’t let the documents or witnesses come before the House?”
Santorum explained that going to the court is the answer to the problem, sparking cross-talk in the CNN panel led by host Anderson Cooper.
Bernstein concluded the exchange with a shot at Trump, saying, “How about being a president who doesn’t cover up and lie all the time and says, ‘All right, we’ll give you the evidence.'”
Bernstein, best known for his investigative reporting that shed light on the Watergate scandal leading to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974, said this is the “most important moment” for the Republican Party since the censure of Sen. Joe McCarthy during the Red Scare of the 1950s and the impeachment case faced by Nixon.
