Fox News’ The Five began immediately after the House hearing with FBI agent (and Republican/Fox whipping boy) Peter Strzok adjourned. Yet despite all the Republican browbeating, none of the four conservative cohosts could point to a single gotcha moment.

Cohost Jesse Watters began the discussion by saying, “That was a marathon today!” You can bet that had there been a gotcha moment, Watters would have immediately highlighted it.

Ditto for cohost Greg Gutfeld. His opening comments were just as telling: “That was like Parliament without the wigs. It’s either a new low or a new high, I don’t know what it is.” He added, “I’d call it a clown show but clowns are sexier.” He also claimed, “We’re never going to get to the truth” because Strzok had so many lawyers with him. As if he should have appeared without legal counsel while Republicans are just itching to go after him.

“Do you think the members of Congress on the Republican side landed any solid blows today on Peter Strzok that kind of shed light on any of his activities with regard to the Trump/Russia investigation?” Watters asked cohost Dana Perino.

Short answer: no.

“Here’s what I know,” Perino began. “I am sure if you asked the Republicans, ‘Did you land any blows on him?” they would say, ‘Absolutely, yes.’ … And the Democrats would say, ‘Absolutely not."

After attacking Democrats for being too favorable to Strzok, Perino also said, “Several Republicans … went way overboard” and that the hearing “felt like a public lynching” of Strzok.

Juan Williams, the lone liberal, decried the political grandstanding by both sides. But he also brought up what came out in Strzok’s favor: that if Strzok had really wanted to stop Trump from winning, he would have leaked the fact that the FBI was investigating whether or not Trump campaign officials were colluding with Russia before the election. That investigation began in July, 2016.

Of course, nobody on the panel would endorse that obvious logic.

Guest cohost Jedediah Bila, undoubtedly hopeful of another contributor contract with Fox, was the lone voice acting as though she thought Strzok had come out poorly. But she, too, did not point to any particular moment in which the Republicans came off well. She said Rep. Trey Gowdy “did an excellent job of laying out” Strzok’s supposed bias. But, tellingly, not one of the other four cohosts agreed with her.

Gutfeld called it “interesting” that Strzok could not remember texting that “we’ll stop” Trump from winning yet had recalled what he meant.

That was probably the most Cover-Up Caucus-friendly thing Gutfeld could come up with. Because what Strzok actually said and which – surprise! – was not played on the show, was a blistering response to Gowdy’s histrionic accusations of bias.

Gutfeld even said that Strzok “wins this argument” because the text was “open to interpretation.”

“It’s hard to prove” there was anything nefarious Watters agreed.

Womp, womp.

Watch the implicit acknowledgment that the hearing did Republicans no favors above, from the July 12, 2018 The Five.

Originally published at Newshounds.us