EDITOR’S NOTE, February 16, 2024: On February 15, Justice Department Counsel David Weiss indicted FBI informant Alexander Smirnov on two felony counts of making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record for claims made to the bureau. The charges are in relation to June 2020 FD-1023 form alleging President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden received a combined $10 million in a bribery scheme involving the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma.
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Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett returned to CNN for Wednesday’s CNN Tonight to once again go head-to-head with an anchor who denied the network has a liberal bias. This time the anchor was Sara Sidner who, while playing defense for Joe and Hunter Biden, insisted “I don’t have a base. I’m a journalist.”
The duo was discussing the FBI FD-1023 form released by Sen. Chuck Grassley that showed an alleged $10 million bribe to the Bidens from Burisma and whether or not Burchett supports impeachment. Sidner protested, “Congressman, look, nothing has been made public yet that shows us all of this. When and if it is, we will get back to you. We'd love to talk to you if you have the evidence to show. But at this point, we haven't seen -- the public hasn't seen any of this hard evidence that has been brought up by members of Congress.”
Burchett shot back, “I don't know what -- you have $10 million coming from Burisma, a company, you know, they're accusing Biden -- they accused Trump of doing what Biden actually did, $10 million of bribery, and they fired a guy. I mean, you can follow the money, ma'am. And these are FBI informants. These are FBI confidential.”
Sidner again protested, “Right, but it has to be proven. There has to be some proof. You can't just say it happened. There has to be some proof, right?”
Seeing a double standard, Burchett recalled, “Well, what was the dossier on Trump? There wasn't really any proof. It was all hearsay. And now, here you've got an FBI document, an official document showing that. So, you know, we can sit here and argue about it, and I get it, you know, you've got your base, I've got mine, but I've seen the documents.”
Not taking well to the fact that she’s no different than a politician, Sidner insisted, “I don't have a base. I'm a journalist. I don't have a base, Democrat or Republican.”
Burchett wasn’t buying it, “I understand, ma'am, you work for CNN. But let's be honest, if you work for Fox, it'd be the right-wing and you all are the-left wing. And I get it.”
Sidner – who likes to warn about the return of Jim Crow, accuse Republicans of not being in favor of teaching accurate history, and condemn Sen. Tim Scott for opposing “civil rights laws” and DEI – still tried to claim, “We are not. I'm not… You don't know my politics, sir. You really don't know my politics.”
Once again, Burchett fired back, “Nobody believes that, ma'am. You can say that and you can have your fingers crossed under the table.”
Bringing the segment to a close, Sidner declared, “But again, there has to be proof, sir. There has to be proof both with my politics and with whether or not Joe Biden is involved. Thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate you talking about UAPs and the issue with Hunter Biden. I appreciate you coming on, sir.”
In this instance, UAP could also stand for Unadmitted Anchor’s Progressivism.
This segment was sponsored by LifeLock.
Here is a transcript for the July 26 show:
CNN Tonight
7/26/2023
11:25 PM ET
SARA SIDNER: But I just want to be really clear, congressman. Yeah. Congressman, look, nothing has been made public yet that shows us all of this. When and if it is, we will get back to you. We'd love to talk to you if you have the evidence to show. But at this point, we haven't seen -- the public hasn't seen any of this hard evidence that has been brought up by members of Congress.
BURCHETT: I don't know what -- you have $10 million coming from Burisma, a company, you know, they're accusing Biden -- they accused Trump of doing what Biden actually did, $10 million of bribery, and they fired a guy. I mean, you can follow the money, ma'am. And these are FBI informants. These are FBI confidential.
SIDNER: Right, but it has to be proven. There has to be some proof. You can't just say it happened. There has to be some proof, right?
BURCHETT: Well, what was the dossier on Trump? There wasn't really any proof. It was all hearsay. And now, here you've got an FBI document, an official document showing that. So, you know, we can sit here and argue about it, and I get it, you know, you've got your base, I've got mine, but I've seen the documents.
SIDNER: I don't have a base. I'm a journalist. I don't have a base, Democrat or Republican.
BURCHETT: I understand, ma'am, you work for CNN. But let's be honest, if you work for Fox, it'd be the right-wing and you all are the-left wing. And I get it.
SIDNER: We are not. I'm not.
BURCHETT: It's politics as usual, ma'am.
SIDNER: You don't know my politics, sir. You really don't know my politics.
BURCHETT: Nobody believes that, ma'am. You can say that and you can have your fingers crossed under the table.
SIDNER: But again, there has to be proof, sir. There has to be proof both with my politics and with whether or not Joe Biden is involved. Thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate you talking about UAPs and the issue with Hunter Biden. I appreciate you coming on, sir.
