CNN’s Berman Confronts Cotton: Why Is Biden-Harris Switch ‘A Coup But Not January 6?’

CNN anchor John Berman confronted Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) over his accusation of a “coup” in President Joe Biden’s decision to pass the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris as Democratic nominee.

President Biden’s campaign was on a media firing line since his debate performance touched off calls for him to drop out, and on Sunday, the shoe finally dropped. On Sunday afternoon , the president announced he would no longer be seeking a second term — and minutes later threw his support behind his veep.

By Monday night, the VP had amassed enough delegate support to claim the title of “Presumptive Democratic Nominee for President” in a statement promising to “unite our party, unite our nation, and defeat Donald Trump in November.”

Opponents have tried to cast the switch as a “coup” — the same language that is frequently applied to the Trump-inspired January 6 riot.

On Tuesday’s edition of CNN News Central , Berman asked Cotton to justify that language, especially since he’s never applied it to Jan. 6:

JOHN BERMAN: Senator, thanks so much for being with us. As much as any politician I’ve seen, you choose your language very carefully. So why call this a coup and not January 6th?

SEN. TOM COTTON: Well, John, look what happened. Just last weekend, you had Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, George Clooney, Hollywood moguls, Wall Street bankers all working behind closed doors to bring unbearable pressure to bear on Joe Biden, who in the end threw in, threw in the towel.

And now you have the Democratic Party uniting around Kamala Harris, who not only has never won a Democratic primary, she’s never won a single vote for president, yet they’ve installed her as their nominee.

That’s what they want to go forward with in this election, even as we still have questions.

JOHN BERMAN: I get that. But, you know.

SEN. TOM COTTON: Harris’s role in all of this, Kamala.

JOHN BERMAN: You use the language coup, and again, you’ve never said that for January 6th. And as far as I know, no cops were beaten up. No one defecated in the Capitol. There was no criminal trespass in terms of changing the Democratic candidates, were there?

SEN. TOM COTTON: Well, no, but what you get with Kamala Harris is a failed prosecutor who wouldn’t seek the death penalty for cop killers, even though her same fellow San Francisco Democrat Dianne Feinstein, wanted to.

Kamala Harris also has to answer questions about what’s happened over the last three and a half years. She was not just a part of the conspiracy of silence about Joe Biden’s decline. She was the leader of it.

She has said time and time again that he’s fit as a fiddle, that he’s sharp as a tack. When Robert Hur in February refused to bring criminal charges against Joe Biden, in large part because he said he was a failing, feeble, frail old man, Kamala Harris came out and savaged him in the most strident terms. So the American people deserve to know. What did Kamala Harris know and when did she know it?

Watch above via CNN News Central .