On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama Adviser David Axelrod stated that President Joe Biden threatening to withhold certain weapons sales to Israel if they invade Rafah is different from what 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump was impeached for because Trump was trying to go after his opponent. Axelrod also stated that Biden’s announcement isn’t due to “just the students protesting.”
Axelrod said that he personally feels “solicitude for the starving children of Gaza and civilians who are collateral damage in this war. And so, I accept the political calculus. I’ve lived in this world all my life. It’s also true that I think the President feels solicitude for these people. I don’t think it’s just the students protesting. He’s been talking about this for months. As for standing for Israel, when the bombs flowed in from — when the drones and the missiles flowed in from Iran, it was the United States who shot them down. He has provided most of the weaponry that is being used right now by the Israelis. He’s — and he did, as was pointed — as he pointed out, he went, and, yes, he hugged Netanyahu, and on that very day, he told them, don’t make the mistake we made, don’t pursue –.”
After Axelrod got cut off, CNN Senior Political Commentator Scott Jennings said that Republicans in Congress will “recall a time when we impeached the President of the United States for withholding military aid authorized by Congress from Ukraine, $400 million. That was the basis of the impeachment. This is congressionally authorized military aid to our ally and he is withholding it for political reasons.”
Axelrod countered, “The basis of that impeachment was that the President of the United States called the president of Ukraine, and he said, I want you to do me a favor and open an investigation on the person who I think may be my opponent in the next election. That was the basis –.”
Jennings then cut in to say, “And he wants Israel to stand down on Rafah because his base is mad at him. What’s — it’s a political reason.”
Axelrod then said, after host Erin Burnett tried to cut in, “Scott, the analogy just doesn’t hold.”
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