Fox and Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade walked into a lion’s den during his book tour on Sunday when he appeared ABC’s This Week as a part of a panel that was stacked against him. A fairly large segment of their roundtable discussion was about the infamous Trump dossier that was put together by a British spy, Russian agents, and paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Everything got extremely heated when the liberal panel began to shout Kilmeade down and ludicrously claim there was no connection between Clinton/Democrats and the Russians via the dossier.
When Clinton lackey George Stephanopoulos first brought up the dossier for this panel to discuss, he called on Clinton campaign staffer Karen Finney to set up their talking points. “Yeah, but again, that dossier, came from an American company that we—that originally been funded by Republicans as you have mentioned earlier,” she argued. “I think what’s important though is less who funded it and [more] what was in the dossier.”
Then it was Kilmeade’s turn to speak, he began by briefly talking about what we could expect from the Robert Mueller indictment on Monday and then shifted to laying out the facts of the dossier. “Then we find out that somebody else picks up the investigation, makes it international. It has a Russian element. There was no Russian element to the Free Beacon-financed opposition research,” he explained, while pointing out the ridiculousness of John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chair, claiming he didn’t notice $6-9 million dollars leaving the campaign’s bank account.
ABC’s pretend Republican, Matthew Dowd took exception with Kilmeade telling the truth and raising questions about the Clinton campaign’s honesty. “I have to say. I have to say, we need to give up the David Copperfield or Harry Houdini award for misdirection in this thing. This reminds me of the uranium deal,” he spat. “There is no similarity between what Robert Mueller’s investigation in collusion and what the Russians wanted to do and a dossier paid for in part by the Democrats in order of events.”
When Kilmeade tried to refute Dowd’s ridiculousness, the fake Republican exclaimed: “There is no Russian relationship between the dossier and the Democrats!” And from there the panel discussion cascaded into an all-out shouting match with each panelist taking shots at Kilmeade directly while trying to distort the truth.
“This is the real test as to whether or not Republicans will actually put patriotism above partisanship. Will conservative media folks actually speak truth or want to defend Trump at any and all costs,” lambasted ABC commentator Roland Martin, clearly targeting Kilmeade for working at Fox News. The lone Republican responded by accurately pointing out how Martin’s version of “patriotism” was only measured by a person’s condemnation of the President, all while Martin was trying to yell over him.
Kinney again chimed in with the Democratic Party’s historical revisionism and claimed that for over a year and a half everyone knew that the Dems were funding the dossier, when in fact it was only speculation. As Kilmeade was pointing out how her assertions were false because the Party and the campaign had denied it the whole time, Dowd began to yell at him: “Two shows in Vegas! Two shows in Vegas! Misdirection!” And the circus continued.
Amongst the shouting and crosstalk, Dowd and Finney could be heard saying “The truth is important Brian!” and “Brian, there are actual facts,” respectively. Finney tried to defend Fusion GPS, the company behind the dossier, for covering up the documents’ financiers by saying “GPS is an American company. GPS is an American company.” But the fact of the matter was: They hired a British spy who talked with Russian agents.
“I just love this filibustering spin. It’s pretty cute Brian,” Martin mocked.
Stephanopoulos either had enough of the screaming or needed to get to a commercial, because he finally stepping in to settle them down after several minutes. And in doing so, he asserted that “we know that nothing in the dossier came out during the campaign. So it had no effect on the campaign.”
But if the standard was that nothing came out during the election, then why did the liberal media blow up when Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer for opposition research, which he never received? The answer was it was a blatant double standard set up for the benefit of Clinton and the Democrats.
The behavior of Stephanopoulos and the rest of the panel was pathetic. The veteran Clinton lackey let his liberal guests get away with rewriting history and directly insulting their fellow panelists. And their denial of the facts was highly disturbing and unsettling, which completely brought into question ABC’s commitment to the truth.
Transcript below:
ABC
This Week
October 29, 2017
9:24:20 AM EasternGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But earlier in the week, Karen Finney, you did see a lot of these questions in tweets from the President saying collusion now between the Clintons and the Russians. And also, we did learn that the Clintons' lawyer, Mark Elias did fund this Fusion GPS dossier.
KAREN FINNEY: Yeah, but again, that dossier, came from an American company that we—that originally been funded by Republicans as you have mentioned earlier. I think what’s important though is less who funded it and [more] what was in the dossier.
(…)
BRIAN KILMEADE: To the GPS situation. We found out it's not a candidate. We found out it was Paul Singer and his Free Beacon. We found out he was looking at two candidates in particular. And he stopped the investigation as soon as Donald Trump locked up the nomination. As soon as he did that, he goes: “Okay, let's see what happens,” from the Republican perspective. Then we find out that somebody else picks up the investigation, makes it international. It has a Russian element. There was no Russian element to the Free Beacon-financed opposition research. That’s a major difference. And then we're supposed to believe that John Podesta had no idea that $6 million to $9 million is flying out of the campaign? He said he didn’t know. And his lawyer: When he said he didn’t know, Mark Elias says: “Oh, yeah, I actually approved that.” So you had the lawyer sitting next to a client who’s pretending he doesn't know that’s unbelievable.
MATTHEW DOWD: As Karen knows and Roland knows, I’ve been highly critical of Hillary Clinton for a long period of time in all the manifestations that have been—
ROLAND MARTIN: I think all of us know that, not just ne and Karen.
[Laughter]
DOWD: I have to say. I have to say, we need to give up the David Copperfield or Harry Houdini award for misdirection in this thing. This reminds me of the uranium deal, whole story, that's been debunked along the way--all along the way. This is a whole other story. There is no similarity between what Robert Mueller’s investigation in collusion and what the Russians wanted to do and a dossier paid for in part by the Democrats in order of events.
[Crosstalk]
KILMEADE: But Matt, why would you think that? The FBI indictments could have been handed out—
[Crosstalk]
DOWD: There is no Russian relationship between the dossier and the Democrats.
MARTIN: Here is what is laughable. We literally watch a campaign, of folks chant lock her up, that we can’t have a President under investigation, and we're here right now. This is the real test as to whether or not Republicans will actually put patriotism above partisanship. Will conservative media folks actually speak truth or want to defend Trump at any and all costs. I it love how people are complaining about players taking a knee and the flag and excusing what excuse what Russia Has done.
[Crosstalk]
KILMEADE: Why do you think that patriotism has something to do with admitting Trump’s wrong? He doesn’t think he’s wrong.
MARTIN: Brian!
KILMEADE: They don’t think he’s wrong.
MARTIN: Brian!
KILMEADE: There’s no evidence that he is wrong.
MARTIN: Brian!
KILMEADE: So what is patriotic about saying somebody is wrong?
MARTIN: This is a guy who will knowingly lie and not admit the truth. So whether he says it, is relevant to me.
(…)
[Crosstalk]
FINNEY: It’s been known for a year that Democrats had been paying for it.
KILMEADE: No it wasn’t. It was denied by John Podesta.
FINNEY He didn’t know.
KILMEADE: It was denied by the DNC chairman. [Dowd to shout him down] Let me. No. No. No.
[Crosstalk]
DOWD: Two shows in Vegas. Two shows in Vegas. Misdirection.
[Laughter]
[Crosstalk]
KILMEADE: Sorry if you’re frustrated.
DOWD: I’m not frustrated. The truth is important Brian!
KINNEY: Brian, there are actual facts.
KILMEADE: So, let me finish and I’ll tell you the facts. Tuesday, Wednesday, we get the revelations because GPS did not want to hand over their records about who financed their international probe into Trump Tower—excuse me into Russia. And then Tuesday, Wednesday, it turns out $3.6 million from the Democrats. And $6 million from Hillary Clinton's campaign which he never admitted to before.
[Crosstalk]
KINNEY: GPS is an American company. GPS is an American company.
MARTIN: I just love this filibustering spin. It’s pretty cute Brian
[Crosstalk]
STEPHANOPOULOS: I’m stopping this. Wait. There are two facts. Two facts about the dossier that we know. We know that it had nothing to do with the intelligence community's findings that Russia interfered with the election. Absolutely nothing to do with that. And number two, we know that nothing in the dossier came out during the campaign. So it had no effect on the campaign.
(…)
