In an upcoming 60 Minutes interview, Joe Biden attacks Jared Kushner's lack of "credentials" to negotiate Middle East peace, saying he knows "nothing about it."
CNN's reaction? Essentially to say: you go, Joe! On this morning's New Day, Chris Cillizza twice called Biden's criticism "valid." Even that wasn't praise enough for Alisyn Camerota, who said: "It’s not only valid. When you hear it coming out of Joe Biden’s mouth, somehow it sounds even more shocking."
Here’s more of Cillizza:
At the same time, the point he makes is a valid one. We talked about it over, and continue to talk about it over and over again. The fact that Donald Trump has his daughter and son-in-law, not just in the White House but in absolutely senior positions with very amorphous roles, to which it is not entirely clear what they're qualified for those roles, other than being related to Donald Trump. So yes, it is Joe Biden trying to change the subject. At the same time, the subject it’s being changed to is a valid one that we’ve raised.
Guess what didn't come out of Camerota's or Cillizza's mouth? Any mention of Biden's brazen hypocrisy. It took some serious chutzpah for Biden to criticize Kushner's lack of credentials given Hunter Biden's utter lack of expertise regarding Ukraine or natural gas— despite being hired to a $50,000/month sinecure by Ukrainian natural gas producer Burisma while Joe was the sitting VP.
The full 60 Minutes interview won't be available until Sunday, but from what we know, it doesn't seem that Norah O'Donnell pushed back on Biden's double standard when it came to filial credentials or the lack thereof.
For that matter, Jared Kushner has as least as much Middle East experience as did Barack Obama at the time of his inauguration. And Kushner almost surely had visited the Israeli area and knew more people on the ground there than Obama at the beginning of his presidency.
Here's the transcript. Click "expand" to read more.
CNN
New Day
10/25/19
6:52 am EDTJOHN BERMAN: So there’s this new interview from former Vice-President Joe Biden. And in it, he is taking a dig at President Trump for employing his own family members inside the White House. Joe Biden says his children will not work in the administration if he is elected President.
JOE BIDEN: If I'm President, get elected President, my children are not going to have offices in the White House. My children are not going to sit in a cabinet meeting. The idea that you’re going to have — go to the extent that he has gone, to have our, you know, his children and son-in-law engaged in the day-to-day operation of things they know nothing about.
NORAH O'DONNELL: You don’t think Jared Kushner should be negotiating a Middle East peace solution?
BIDEN: No, I don’t. I don’t. What credential does he bring to that?
BERMAN: Chris Cillizza is back with us. Chris, political jujitsu here, turning the questions about Hunter Biden back on the President.
CHRIS CILLIZAA: Yeah, look, Joe Biden understands that this is a weakness. Maybe one that he can’t control now because it — this decision happened — Hunter Biden was on this board starting in 2014. But I think he understands that that is something of an issue.
At the same time, the point he makes is a valid one. We talked about it over, and continue to talk about it over and over again. The fact that Donald Trump has his daughter and son-in-law, not just in the White House but in absolutely senior positions with very amorphous roles, to which it is not entirely clear what they're qualified for those roles, other than being related to Donald Trump. So yes, it is Joe Biden trying to change the subject. At the same time, the subject it’s being changed to is a valid one that we’ve raised.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: By the way, it’s not only valid. When you hear it coming out of Joe Biden’s mouth, somehow it sounds even more shocking. It’s like we always talk about how we’ve become inured to some of this. When you hear that President Trump’s children are in cabinet meetings. We’ve seen pictures of it all. In cabinet meetings? Why?
CILLIZZA: Negotiating Middle East peace!
CAMEROTA: Negotiating Middle East peace.
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