“Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd sparred with Republican Sen. Ron Johnson when the lawmaker accused him and the rest of the media of bias.
The confrontation began when the two discussed classified documents recently discovered in the home and former office of President Joe Biden, and Todd asked why Johnson did not suggest that Congress wait until the Justice Department completes its investigation into the documents before conducting congressional oversight. That prompted Johnson to launch a nonsensical tirade, accusing the FBI of “political wrongdoing” regarding the Hunter Biden laptop investigation. Todd then asked if Johnson could name a single crime committed by the president’s son.
“Senator, do you have a crime that you think Hunter Biden committed because I have yet to see anyone explain. It’s not a crime to make money off your last name,” the NBC host asked.
Johnson responded by saying Todd should read the “Marco Polo Report,” a report on the alleged contents of the laptop compiled by former aide to Trump adviser Peter Navarro. Johnson claimed the report was “detailed[s] all kinds of potential crimes.
“Oh wait, let me stop you here. potential. That’s potential. The potential is an innuendo,” Todd replied.
Johnson then pointed to $30,000 in funds that Hunter Biden allegedly paid to individuals the senator alleged were for “recruiting and purchasing prostitution in potentially European sex-trafficking operations.” There’s that word again – ‘potential’.
Todd then pointed out Johnson’s apparent hypocrisy in targeting Biden’s son, while ignoring alleged wrongdoing by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who accepted a loan from the Qatari government while serving in the White House.
“Your Senate Democrats want to investigate Jared Kushner’s loan from the Qatari government when he was working in the government negotiating a lot of things in the Middle East,” Todd said. “Aren’t you so concerned about it? Aren’t you worried about that? And I say that because it seems to me that if you’re concerned about what Hunter Biden did, you should be just as outraged by what Jared Kushner did.
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“I’m worried about getting to the truth. I don’t target individuals,” Johnson said with a laugh.
“You target Hunter Biden several times on this show, Senator,” Todd responded. “You are targeting an individual.”
After that, the interview started to get personal. Johnson accused Todd of inviting him on Meet the Press to “argue with me.” He then went on a Trump-esque rant about the biased media.
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“I’m just trying to lay out the facts that Senator Grassley and I have uncovered,” Johnson said. “They were oppressed. They were censored. They interfered in the 2020 election. Conservatives understand this. Unfortunately, liberals and the media do not. And part of the reason is that our politics are heated, that we don’t have an impartial media. We don’t. That’s unfortunate. I’m for a free press. It should be more impartial.”
“Look, you can go back to your partisan cable cocoon and talk about media bias all you want. I understand that it’s part of your identity,” Todd said, essentially telling Johnson to take his nonsense to the right-wing media where he can find a more receptive audience.
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