A Republican Congressman Lies To Protect Trump And Gets By Destroyed By NBC’s Katy Tur

House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) made the false claim that news organizations said that there were ties between Trump and the KGB. NBC’s Katy Tur pushed Stewart, but he would not give examples to back up his claims.

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Rep. Stewart said, “We’ve got all sorts of claims made by all sorts of people and news organizations that we don’t have evidence of right now.”

Tur asked, “What specifically are you talking about ‘all sorts of news organizations?'”

Stewart replied, “Well, for example, we’ve had some people claim that there’s direct ties between Trump campaign officials and the KGB or GRU agents. I’m not aware of any of those.”

Tur asked, “What news organizations have claimed that?”

Stewart dodged, “Well, I think there’s several, but that’s not the point. I could say who they were, but that’s not the point.”

Tur kept pushing, “Could you? Because I don’t think any news organization actually claimed that there were direct ties between the Trump campaign and Russian spies.”

Stewart tried to dig his way out, “Well, certainly that’s a narrative. I mean that’s what we’ve been talking about for a could weeks isn’t it? This kind of idea that there may be claims of that.”

Within a matter of a minute, Rep. Stewart went from claiming that news organizations said that there were direct ties between the Trump campaign and Russian agents to saying that it was “kind of an idea.”

Kind of an idea and a news report are not the same thing.

The whole interview was contentious because the Congressmen kept referring to Tur’s certain point of view, which judging from her statements, Katy Tur’s point of view was based on reality and facts.

Tur’s interview with Rep. Stewart what happens when journalists listen and ask follow-up questions instead of being content with whatever their guest feeds them.

Republicans in Congress are going to try to cover for Trump, but it is up to journalists and reporters to challenge their dubious claims in support of a scandal-plagued president.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association