Geraldo Rivera, a longtime friend of President Trump’s, joined ABC’s “The View” on Friday and delivered his assessment of the highly publicized Stormy Daniels affair.
Rivera was promoting his new book, “The Geraldo Show,” before pointing out the media’s role in promoting the Stormy Daniels story, saying that he believed it had been overblown intentionally.
“It’s not even a question of what adds up, it’s a question of… look at CNN, which was the paragon of virtue in broadcast news,” he stated. “For them to give this much attention to a person whose story, when it comes down to it, is that she had a one-nighter with a man who was a broadcast reality show real estate tycoon, she had a one-nighter in the bungalow of the Beverly Hills Hotel.”
“60 Minutes hyped it, CNN hyped it as if it was the nuclear code. It was really, I thought, way excessive, and they did it because the wanted to take down the president.”
Rivera also compared Daniels’ story of a “one-nighter” with a billionaire businessman to the story of former vice-presidential candidate Jon Edwards, whose mistress bore his baby out of wedlock.
Rivera has been very vocal about the alleged Stormy Daniels affair on Twitter over the last week, calling out several media outlets for what he called disproportionate coverage of the issue.
Breathtaking to watch how seamlessly #CNN & other anti-@realDonaldTrump have pivoted from fruitless, semi-fake #Russiagate probe to #Playmates & #Pornstars
Having lost #Putin they’re making #STORMYDANIELS a victim
Media treatment of @IvankaTrump is shameful unfair&unprecedented— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 22, 2018
#China killing w trade. #Russia just killing. @POTUS reacting w big time expulsions. Cozy relationship now appropriately frosty. How long will #CNN stay focused on newsless #StormyDanielsInterview ? Even election contribution angle seems lame, tiny compared to amt spent & raised
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 26, 2018
#NYT headline “Adult Film Star Feared For Safety Of Daughter After Trump Threat” Not Alleged Threat; not Purported or Supposed Threat-it’s tabloid & disrespectful-partisan & fake. @realDonaldTrump has legit beef & regardless of politics you should see thru pretentious sanctimony
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 27, 2018
He also recently praised the President for his decision to essentially ignore the issue, and for keeping his focus on more important things.
Happy & relieved @realDonaldTrump has treated #StormyDaniels saga like a dead fish, avoiding the stink. He’s refusing to be provoked, & focusing on significant issues like #tariffs #NoKo & #KimJongUn visit to #China Let the detractors do the #pornstar shuffle, you be @POTUS
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 28, 2018
Rivera also spent a few moments on the show reflecting on the fact that one of his oldest friends now occupies the Oval Office — and he was very complimentary of President Trump. “I believe he has a good heart. I do not believe he is a racist. I do not believe he wants the worst for America.”
He did say, however, that the president’s Twitter habits left something to be desired. “I wish I could be his tweet editor.”
