CNN's Chris Cuomo judiciously explains how House Republicans failed against Peter Strzok, Mueller

Thursday's House Judiciary and Oversight Committee hearing with FBI agent Peter Strzok "was 10 hours of traveshamockery, a travesty wrapped in a sham wrapped in a mockery — not my word, but it fits," Chris Cuomo said on CNN Thursday night. "You had the angry Republicans who didn't make the case that bias tainted the [Robert Mueller] probe, the high-dudgeon Democrats who have contempt for the other side. But it is Republican Paul Gosar who take the prize for showing this situation at its best — and for that I mean, at its worst." He repeated Gosar's (Ariz.) opening gambit: "'I'm a dentist, so I read body language very, very well.' Is that in the same vein as 'I'm not a dentist, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night and I can gladly do your dentures'? Crazy."

"We asked all the big Republicans to come on who were big at the hearing today," Cuomo noted. "None of them came on. They all went on Fox."

YouTube

Watch On

Cuomo broke out his whiteboard to detail why he thinks House Republicans failed to make their case against Strzok and their ultimate target, Mueller. For the GOP, "this was more about making allegations than asking anything," Cuomo said. He illustrated the GOP fruitlessness with one "standout moment" in which Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) "made [President] Trump's case that the probe is a 'witch hunt' by attacking Strzok as a philanderer, not a trace of irony on his face." Strzok wasn't "contrite" about his texts, which do show bias against Trump, but House Republicans promised to uncover facts, he said, and in 10 hours, "no proof was offered that Strzok did something acting on bias."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"Here is the big takeaway: There are three facts that work against the GOP, and I don't know they did anything to vitiate or get rid of them today," Cuomo said, running through them. Watch below. Peter Weber