CNN panel erupts after guest points out Democrats went after Trump and his family

A CNN panel on "CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip" went a little off the rails after attorney Arthur Aidala noted that President-elect Donald Trump was targeted by Democrats at local and federal levels while he was running for president.

After playing a clip of a recent interview of Trump by NBC News, in which he said his attorney would have to look at whether charges should be brought up against people like former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), anti-Trump commentator and former Republican Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh said the soon-to-be president is making disturbing threats.

Cheney was given the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Joe Biden.

"You can laugh at that. And you can say he's an idiot. That's the president-elect making another direct threat. This is unprecedented. It's wrong. We should all agree it's wrong that he says something like that. But yes, Joe Biden should try to pardon as many people as possible to protect from a guy who said, 'I want to be an authoritarian,'" Walsh said.

“I know, but, Congressman, his — the Democratic administration just went after Trump and his whole family. His whole family," Aidala said, prompting the whole table to reply, "Whoa, whoa."

"Hang on. What do you mean, the Democratic administration? What are you talking about?" host Abby Phillip asked. One of the panelists then remarked that she wished a Democratic administration had truly gone after Trump.

"Last I looked, Joe Biden is a Democrat. Last I looked, the attorney general, Merrick Garland, is a Democrat. They hired a special prosecutor who went after [Trump] in several jurisdictions. The Democratic Manhattan DA went after him. The Democratic attorney general of the state of New York went after him," Aidala explained.

Phillip asserted that none of the examples Aidala provided "mean what you said at the beginning."

Aidala pointed out that Trump's family had to testify for different legal and congressional proceedings, to which the panel still said Aidala was wrong in his initial statement.

Cheney was given the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Joe Biden on Thursday for her role in the special House committee that publicized an account of the riot at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. As she was given the award, it was announced that she had put "the American people over party," to a standing ovation from the audience, according to The Hill.

Cheney's conduct during the special committee has come into question after it was revealed that she had communicated with witness Cassidy Hutchinson, who went on to make outlandish claims, with the knowledge of Hutchinson's attorney.

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