CNN’s Chris Cuomo: Trump ‘Chose Not to’ Pick a Woman for SCOTUS

CNN host Chris Cuomo called President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh a sexist snub Monday night — just days after the network denigrated Judge Amy Coney Barrett with several tone-deaf profiles focusing more on her looks and family life than her legal career.

“[President Donald Trump] could have picked a woman if it was that important to him, but he chose not to,” Cuomo said after Trump introduced Kavanaugh to the nation, selecting him over Barrett, who will continue to serve on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Partial transcript of Chris Cuomo is below:

But also, [Trump] has said, “women. I really want to pick a woman.”

There’s so many qualified female jurists, you know, and — well, one that they thought they had a chance, although it would have been arguably premature with [Amy] Coney Barrett. You know, she got on. She’d never been in a lower court. She’s on the circuit for about a year now.

She was like at home in South Bend. He could have picked a woman if it was that important to him, but he chose not to.

One week before Trump announced his Supreme Court pick, Cuomo’s colleague Chris Cillizza published a blog arguing that Trump would pick Barrett — primarily because of her looks.

“The next SCOTUS nominee has to have immaculate academic credentials, yes,” Cillizza wrote, “but also, the robe simply has to look like she — or he — was born to wear it.”

Days later, D.C. lawyer Jaime Santos called out the network for an apparently sexist disparity in its coverage of Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Justice Raymond Kethledge. Compared to the men on Trump’s short list, CNN fixated on Barrett’s motherhood rather than her professional life.

https://twitter.com/Jaime_ASantos/status/1015035731318853632

https://twitter.com/Jaime_ASantos/status/1015035732396830722

Cuomo continued his professional analysis Monday night by mocking Trump as a man whose success is owed to unearned privilege.

“Oh, I get why [Judge Thomas Hardiman’s] story is impressive,” said Cuomo, agreeing with CNN’s Jake Tapper’s earlier description of Hardiman’’s successes being owed to pulling himself up “from his bootstraps.”

“I don’t know why it resonated with Trump when it has nothing to do with his own personal story,” continued Cuomo, drawing laughter from CNN legal analysts Jeffrey Toobin and Joan Biskupic.

At no point during the 60-minute episode of Cuomo Prime Time were judicial philosophies such as textualism or originalism mentioned.

In July of 2016, Cuomo dismissed descriptions of CNN as an “anti-Trump” news media outlet.

CNN markets itself as “The Most Trusted Name in News.”

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