Fox News’ senior judicial analyst, Andrew Napolitano, wrote a scathing column called, “Despite his impeachment trial acquittal, Trump clearly guilty of a high crime.” It stands in sharp contrast to the Trump impeachment acquittal cheerleading heard almost everywhere else on Fox News.
In case anyone misses the point, Napolitano’s column is prefaced with this quote: "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." – George Orwell, "1984"
Napolitano proceeds to rip both Trump’s guilty behavior and the U.S. Senate for refusing to acknowledge it. A trial is supposed to be “a search for the truth,” former judge Napolitano writes. “But the search for the truth requires witnesses, and when the command from Senate Republican leaders came down that there shall be no witnesses, the truth-telling mission of Trump's trial was radically transformed into a steamroller of political power.”
After running through the known evidence of Trump’s guilt, Napolitano points out how Trump’s insistence of innocence is at odds with his refusal to provide any evidence of it.
“Do innocent people behave this way?” Napolitano asks, and the obvious answer is, of course not. By doing his bidding, Napolitano suggests that Republican senators are just as guilty of an assault on our Constitution.
If Trump really believes he did not commit any crimes and any impeachable offenses, why would he orchestrate blocking evidence? And who – having taken an oath to do "impartial justice" – would close their eyes to the truth? How could such a marathon of speeches possibly be considered a trial?
Trump will luxuriate in his victory. But the personal victory for him is a legal assault on the Constitution. The president has taken an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Instead, he has trashed it.
Well, good on Napolitano. But let’s not forget that Fox News allowed Tucker Carlson to ignore its own legal expert (again) in order to smear Sen. Mitt Romney in prime time for voting Trump guilty. Ditto for hosts Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Fox Business' Lou Dobbs.
Even in his own commentary during the impeachment vote yesterday, Napolitano muted his criticisms of Trump and the Senate.
You can watch that below, from Fox Business Network’s February 5, 2020 After the Bell.
(H/T reader Eric Jefferson)
(Napolitano image via screen grab)
