John Harwood, CNN's new White House correspondent, described President Trump's address to the nation after he was acquitted by the Senate on the two impeachment articles as "dark" and Trump being in "deep psychological distress."
Trump's lengthy presser saw him cracking jokes and criticizing Democrats for starting the impeachment process. He also called Robert Mueller's investigation into his 2016 campaign for alleged ties to Russia as "bullsh*t."
"It was dark because he's made clear that his mind is dark. This is somebody in deep psychological distress right now. Self-pitying, insecure, angry," Harwood said. "He said almost plaintively at the end when he was reading a text from [Peter] Strzok to [Lisa] Page, 'I’m not a bad person.' He was sort of imploring people to accept that view of him."
"He doesn’t recognize abstract concepts like right and wrong, like morality or immorality, like true or false. He recognized what's good for him in the moment," Harwood continued.
Harwood was not the only one on the panel who described the presser as "dark."
"I was struck by just what a dark place this was in this speech. Other speeches in history strike a somber tone, strike a conciliatory, strike a forward-looking tone. This was so dark Nia," "CNN Right Now" host Brianna Keilar said.
"And it's surprising. I mean, not surprising that the president can be vindictive, can be petty, can frame himself as the victim and want to air grievances all the time," senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson said in agreement.
Henderson said the press conference looked and sounded more like a therapy session.
CNN's chyron throughout the segment described Trump as "vindictive."
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