CNN really wants you to take them seriously as a news organization, but it’s infinitely more difficult when they keep on inviting proven fake news anchors such as Dan Rather to opine on the day’s news like they did on Tuesday’s CNN Tonight.

Host Don Lemon again thought it was worth inviting on “Mr. Rather” to bash the President as a liar and demand more transparency from the Justice Department concerning the Mueller report. And no, you can’t make this stuff up.

Leading off the two-hour show’s B-block, Lemon introduced both Rather and former longtime Countdown with Keith Olbermann guest, former Nixon aide, and liberal media darling John Dean before asking Rather:

But I want to start you, Mr. Rather. Thank you for joining us. Both of you gentlemen, by the way. So, what happened to the President saying that the report should be released, he said I have nothing to hide. If it completely exonerates him, as he has falsely claimed, what is the big deal?

Rather offered standard talking points about how the public has only seen a few dozen words from the Mueller report that’s hundreds of pages long, but then the irony alert shattered into a million pieces.

Out of nowhere, Rather went on a lecture to the American people about whether they’ll accept liars like the President (click “expand”):

Now, one could speculate, and it is clear speculation that one reason President Trump has reversed himself is that members of his staff were telling him, look, this is good news, we're good thus far, but don't get too far out there because there are things in the report, there are could be things in the report that will be contrary to your best interest, but, look, you know, we need to ask yourselves who are we as a people? What have we become and what are we becoming? Where are we headed? You have the President today, he lied, I hate to use the word, but he lied...[B]ut he lied about Puerto Rico saying we sent $91 billion there, which is not anywhere near the amount of money we sent there, but, you know, he takes the attitude if he lies often enough, enough people will believe it to keep him in good standing for this presidential term and put him well positioned for the next presidential term, but time and time again, you see him use this technique, which he says I have nothing to hide.

Moments later, Rather peddled the liberal media-wide conspiracy that the Mueller report’s conclusion that Trump wasn’t exonerated on obstruction of justice could still be taken as the President being guilty (click “expand”):

He was not exonerated on obstruction of justice. We were told, we accept, that on a matter of conspiracy with the Russians in which he or anyone close or anyone was involved or collusion, the word he prefers to use, very clear, the report exonerates him on that. On obstruction of justice, it says directly that there's some evidence that he did and some evidence that he didn't. Now the attorney general has taken it upon himself to make the decision, well, that being the case, “I, Attorney General Barr, a supporter of President Trump, of course, says I'll make the decision.”

After Lemon went over to Dean for a few minutes, Lemon came back to Rather with another softball: “So, Dan, listen, we also heard from the President today, he accused some people of treason for even launching the investigation. Treason. What do you think of that?”

Rather replied that he “would consider this by any objective analysis outrageous and also dangerous, to begin accusing one another fellow Americans of treason” and that “[t]his is not the kind of language that we're accustomed to presidents using.”

If you thought Lemon was going to stop there with the double standards, he led off the 11:00 p.m. Eastern hour by criticizing comments the President made about the 2018 midterms being “rigged” by turning to none other than Florida Democrat Andrew Gillum, who has called into question the gubernatorial election he lost in November to Republican Ron DeSantis.

Of course, Lemon stayed away from challenging Gillum and instead turned his guns on former RNC official Mike Shields, who noted the dangerous precedent peddled by Gillum, Georgia’s Stacey Abrams, and ballot harvesting in California.

To see the relevant transcript from April 3's CNN Tonight, click “expand.”