On Tuesday, as the political PR battle ahead of the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump began, ABC’s Good Morning America amplified complaints from Democrats that the process was “a cover-up and national disgrace” because of the rules outlined by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

At the top of the broadcast, co-host George Stephanopoulos worried: “As we join you this Tuesday morning, the impeachment trial of President Trump about to intensify. The first big fight, will it be a fair trial?” He warned viewers: “The prospect of midnight marathon sessions, the battle over witnesses, documents, and evidence. Democrats already calling the proceedings a cover-up and national disgrace.”

“The President’s team says these rules will allow for a fair trial, but Democrats say they will prevent the American people from learning the full truth and amount to a cover-up,” congressional correspondent Mary Bruce reiterated in a report minutes later. She added: “Democrats say Republicans are trying to hide the President’s misconduct in the dead of night.”

A long soundbite was then featured of Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ranting: “It’s clear McConnell is hell-bent on making it much more difficult to get witnesses and documents and intent on rushing the trial through. We hope that four brave Republicans will resist McConnell’s cover-up.”

In another segment that followed, senior White House correspondent Cecilia Vega worried that the President’s allies would take to Fox News to frame the story:

The President and the White House want to see these surrogates out there shaping public perception. The President is very much concerned about not just what happens in that chamber but how the public views what is happening inside that chamber. He wants this to play out on Fox News to his base. We’re going to see the surrogates out there hitting the press hard...

The coverage on GMA echoed NBC’s Today show hyping “outraged” Democrats trashing Senate impeachment rules as a “national disgrace.”

Here is a transcript of the January 21 report on the ABC broadcast: