A CNN panel criticized Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) for calling CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju a "liberal hack" when he approached her to ask a question about the upcoming Senate impeachment trial into President Trump.
"Senator McSally, should the Senate consider new evidence as part of the impeachment trial?" Raju asked Thursday morning.
"Manu, you’re a liberal hack," McSally replied. "I’m not talking to you."
"You’re not going to comment?" Raju then asked.
"You’re a liberal hack," McSally repeated.
"He said — he was asking the question of the day, the one that you heard senator David Perdue, Republican of Georgia, strong supporter of the president, answer, he said 'No, I don’t think so.' McSally just calls Manu Raju, respected widely on Capitol Hill by Democrats and Republicans, calls him a nasty name," CNN anchor Jake Tapper said.
"Yeah, a prize-winning excellent journalist, and what she does is attack the media in this case, she is under the gun, she's gonna have a tough re-election," CNN reporter Nia-Malika Henderson said. "People like Susan Collins also a tough re-election, Susan Collins has answered this question saying she would be open to witnesses. I think the question for all of the folks on the Senate side, the Republicans, people like Lamar Alexander, people like Mitt Romney, all whom have said they’re open to witnesses, I think the question is which witnesses, are they talking about Bolton, are they talking about Hunter Biden?"
"And, John, it is not just a bad moment for Senator McSally. She then tweeted out her staffers' little video caught on camera, and doubled down in the name calling, is this a strategy? Is this — what is this?" Tapper asked John King.
"It is telling because there has been a competition now among the consultants and among the staff and legitimate question, what do we do? Running in a purple state, running in a competitive race, I need independents and I would like to get Democratic votes. What they’re being told mostly is she can’t win without the Trump base," King said.