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

Chris Cuomo picks the winner and losers in House GOP v. Peter Strzok

last updated 13 July 2018

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."

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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."

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"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

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.