Cable News Parrots Pelosi's Talking Point That Trump's Actions 'Make What Nixon Did Look Almost Small'

As NewsBusters has previously reported, the evening newscasts gleefully reported on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's use of the word "bribery" to describe President Trump's actions during his phone call with the President of Ukraine.  Throughout the day on Thursday, cable news personalities also parroted Pelosi's talking point suggesting that the President's actions "make what Nixon did look almost small."  Or, perhaps, Pelosi took her talking points from cable news. During special impeachment coverage on CNN in the 10:00 a.m. ET hour, John Dean declared "this is so much more serious than Nixon's activities." Pelosi's press conference took place in the 11:00 a.m. ET hour. Regardless of whether Pelosi's suggestion that what Trump did made "what Nixon did look almost small" was an original idea or not, cable news talking heads recycled that talking point later in the day. During the 3:00 p.m. ET hour on CNN, host Jake Tapper asked impeachment historian Jeffrey Engel "is Speaker Pelosi right that this makes what Nixon did look almost small?" Engel agreed with Pelosi's analysis, responding to Tapper's inquiry by proclaiming: "it does." On MSNBC, Never-Trumper Jennifer Rubin described Trump's behavior as "far more serious and far many more witnesses than Richard Nixon had." Also, during the 3:00 p.m. ET hour on CNN, Tapper accused Devin Nunes of "basically listing every conspiracy theory...that we've read on InfoWars and Fox News for the last year."