Immediately after the conclusion of the Comey hearing, Chris Matthews admitted his own bias in understanding and reporting allegations of Russian collusion. He argued that the hearing disproved many of those unfounded theories, most notably the stories initially published and advanced by the media that incorrectly alleged that there was an active investigation into the President's collusion with Russia.
Those ideas, according to Matthews, “came apart”:
But the big story to me has always been as all of us, and I think the call really touched on it there, the assumption of the critics of the President, of his pursuers you might say, is that somewhere along the line in the last year the President had something to do with colluding with the Russians. Something to do, a helping hand, encouraging them, feeding their desire to affect the election in some way.
Some role they played, some conversation he had with Michael Flynn or Paul Manafort, or somewhere. And yet, what came apart this morning was that theory-two regards: the President said, according to the written testimony of Mr. Comey, "Go ahead and get any satellites in my operation and nail them. I'm with you on that." And then he also came across today, what was fascinating: Comey said that basically, Flynn wasn't central to the Russian investigation; that he was touching on it.
Amid retractions and corrections by media which jumped to that conclusion, Matthews confessed that his own assumptions were not based on evidence:
I assume Flynn wasn't honest in his answering of his official forms that he had to fill out to become national security head-but it only touched on that, that it wasn't really related to that, but he could be flipped for that. In other words, they could flip him because they had him caught on something he dishonestly answered, but he wasn't central it seemed to the Russian thing.
I've always assumed what Trump was afraid of, he had said something to Flynn, and Flynn could be flipped on that and Flynn would testify against the President that he had some conversation with Flynn in terms of dealing with the Russians affirmatively. And if that's not the case, where's the "there" there?
Unfortunately, despite this realization from Matthews, it took only two hours for him to launch into a unhinged tirade on the subject.
Here is a full transcript of his June 9 commentary:
MSNBC’s Comey Hearing Coverage
June 9, 2017
12:45 p.m. EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: But the big story to me has always been as all of us, and I think the call really touched on it there, the assumption of the critics of the President, of his pursuers you might say, is that somewhere along the line in the last year the President had something to do with colluding with the Russians. Something to do, a helping hand, encouraging them, feeding their desire to affect the election in some way. Some role they played, some conversation he had with Michael Flynn or Paul Manafort, or somewhere. And yet, what came apart this morning was that theory-two regards: the President said, according to the written testimony of Mr. Comey, "Go ahead and get any satellites in my operation and nail them. I'm with you on that." And then he also came across today, what was fascinating: Comey said that basically Flynn wasn't central to the Russian investigation, that he was touching on it.
That of course, I assume Flynn wasn't honest in his answering of his official forms that he had to fill out to become national security head-but it only touched on that, that it wasn't really related to that, but he could be flipped for that. In other words, they could flip him because they had him caught on something he dishonestly answered, but he wasn't central it seemed to the Russian thing. I've always assumed what Trump was afraid of, he had said something to Flynn, and Flynn could be flipped on that and Flynn would testify against the President that he had some conversation with Flynn in terms of dealing with the Russians affirmatively. And if that's not the case, where's the "there" there? If it isn't Manafort, because he wants to throw him under the bus, and Flynn wasn't central to the investigation, where is the concern that Trump has that has put him on defense for all these months? That's my question coming out of the morning hearing.
