Caught up on the impeachment frenzy, the liberal, anti-Trump media is having a really difficult time separating itself from the Democratic Party.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., got into a heated exchange with “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd on Sunday that left the NBC News anchor seething.
Todd opened the segment by asking Johnson about a Wall Street Journal interview where Johnson implied that the U.S. ambassador to the European Union was saying that President Trump was withholding military aid to Ukraine seeking a commitment to investigate certain matters.
Todd displayed a quote from that interview:
“At that suggestion, I winced,” Mr. Johnson said. “My reaction was: Oh, God. I don’t want to see those two things combined.”
After mocking Todd about his set-up piece being “unbiased,” Johnson began with a spirited defense of what Trump has had to endure given a media onslaught from the jump.
“Let me first before I start answering the detailed questions, let me talk about why I am pretty sympathetic with what President Trump has gone through,” Johnson said. “I am 64 years old. I have never in my lifetime seen a president after being elected — after having some measure of well wishes from his opponents — I’ve never seen an administration sabotaged from the day after election. I’ve never seen no measure of honeymoon whatsoever.”
He then pivoted quickly to former CIA Director John Brennan, to tell Todd he should have asked him about texts between fired FBI agent Peter Strzok and his lover, bureau attorney Lisa Page, about CIA leaks.
Todd forcefully interrupted to ask what this had to do with Ukraine.
Johnson continued to lay out how certain members of the intelligence community have been engaged in a campaign to set Trump up, but the tone of the interview was set, as the men where practically yelling at one another.
Todd’s response was to slam Johnson, while taking a cheap shot at rival Fox News.
“Why Fox News conspiracy propaganda stuff is popping up on here, I have no idea,” Todd said.
He didn’t care to give Johnson time to explain just why Trump and his supporters are upset with the media, sarcastically slamming him for trying to make Trump feel better — so much for professionalism.
“This is not about the media, Sen. Johnson, please!” he yelled. “Can we please answer the question that I asked you instead of trying to make Donald Trump feel better here that you are not criticizing him.”
His line of questions intent on establishing the heretofore missing quid pro quo on the part of the president, his contempt for the Republican was impossible to miss.
“Because I didn’t want those connected,” Johnson said, when Todd pressed, before adding why he brought it up on the WSJ interview.
“When I asked the president about that, he completely denied it,” the lawmaker told Todd. “He adamantly denied it. He vehemently, angrily denied it. He said, ‘I’d never do that.’”
Johnson continued to make the point that what Trump wanted investigated was in relation to election interference in the 2016 election, not digging up dirt on his 2020 opponents.
“That’s what Trump wants to get to the bottom of. But the press doesn’t want to,” he said, adding that the press is “horribly biased.”
“I understand that a way to avoid answering a question is to attack us in the press. I’m well aware of that,” Todd countered.
The NBC News anchor continued with a line of questioning that sounded as if he was borrowing from the Democrat Party’s talking points.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions, Chuck. I just want the truth,” Johnson said at one point. “The American people want the truth.”
“You don’t trust the FBI, the CIA?” Todd asked.
“No, no, I don’t. Absolutely not,” Johnson replied, naming Lisa Page, James Comey and John Brennan. “I don’t trust any of these guys in the Obama Administration.”
Todd responded by trying to differentiate between the intelligence community then and now, brushing over all the dubious activity that took place.
Johnson finished up by exposing Todd for his tactics.
“You started the piece with something [so] incredibly biased that I would never be able to get the truth out,” he said.
“Senator, I don’t know why you just came on here to personally attack the press and avoid answering questions about —”
“Because of your set-up piece,” the Republican informed him.
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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