Seeing as how his life has been personally enriched by his wife working for Democrats, it’s easy to see why MSNBC’s MTP Daily host Chuck Todd was so adamant about defending the sketchy business career of Hunter Biden. On Tuesday’s show, he emotionally lashed out at Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) as a gaslighter doing harm to American politics for daring to ask questions about the Bidens.
The nearly-10-minute bout began at the very moment Kennedy dared to insist that both the President’s conversations with the Ukrainian president and Hunter Biden’s business dealings should be looked into (click “expand”):
No, no, Senator, Senator, no, no, I want you to be able to — I will give you a second to respond here, but here is where I find all this stuff a bunch of — of — it's hard to believe on the Hunter — it's hard to believe the concern about Hunter Biden by — by some of these folks making this case. If they were so serious about this, I'm trying to figure out why nobody from the FBI has been contacted. Not a single person. I don't understand why Rudy Giuliani thinks it's better to investigate an American via an outsourcing to a country that apparently they also didn't trust. Do you see why I'm skeptical that the Hunter Biden stuff is really that serious? If they were serious about it, you go to the FBI, you don't go to an oligarch in Ukraine.
Kennedy replied that there’s no way Todd would know that since the FBI doesn’t comment on investigations. He correctly added how it’s unlikely that the Ukrainian oligarch picked Hunter Biden for a position on the board of a foreign energy company because they liked what they saw on a Zip Recruiter profile.
While he didn’t use the term “conspiracy theory,” Todd proceeded to throw journalists like those listed here under the bus by declaring that every possible group has looked into Hunter Biden and deemed everything squeaky clean (click “expand”):
TODD: You do realize, senator, that a lot of people have attempted to look into this and they haven't found a there there to look into.
KENNEDY: Who? Who has?
TODD: And — and that's the point here —
KENNEDY: Who? Who has?
TODD: — you brought up the FBI.
KENNEDY: Who's looked into it, Chuck?
TODD: Apparently the Ukrainian government. Apparently every Ukranian journalist. Plenty of people here. We’ve all looked into it. I’m sorry that it — you do —
KENNEDY: Ohhh, okay. Has MS — MSNBC looked into it?
TODD: Yes, sir. You realize you're looking for outcome, not the facts. That’s what you keep telling me.
KENNEDY: No. No. No. That’s your —
TODD: There have been four or five different entities who found nothing.
KENNEDY: — who?
TODD: I just told you.
KENNEDY: MSNBC?
TODD: And they’re not good enough for you. They’re not good enough for you.
KENNEDY: MSN — wait. You said Ukraine?
TODD: I said Ukrainian journalists have, the Ukrainian government has, apparently if the FBI is contacted, the FBI can't seem to open an investigation either because they haven't found enough.
KENNEDY: Do you know that they haven’t opened an investigation?
TODD: We've looked into it. The New York Times has looked into it. Maybe you're right, maybe there's magical missing information here. But at some point, do you not accept all of these entities looking into it to have found the answer? And again, if what Hunter Biden did was wrong, boy, there are a lot of people with the last name of Trump that have some answering to do about their foreign work and their foreign entanglements.
KENNEDY: Well, I'm going to have to disagree with you, Chuck. I don't think there's been an in-depth investigation of this. I don’t.
Ah, yes. So for Chuck Todd, the children of Democrats can do important, noble work in countries while their parents set foreign policy, but the First Family could be corrupt. So journalists asking questions during the summer was fine, but now it's not okay. Got it.
Todd then bemoaned that such investigations aren’t “how the rule of law works” as if the Trump impeachment will be an above-board, sober, and not-at-all political matter.
The MSNBC host then descended into juvenile territory by insulting the intelligence of Louisianans and Texans, lecturing Kennedy for “gaslighting,” and painting himself as the true, noble warrior able to judge what’s fair game (click “expand”):
TODD: There is no evidence that anything like that exists. It's an allegation that you're simply making in order to do — it's sort of the old LBJ, “well, we have no idea if it's true but make them deny it.” That's not how politics is supposed to work. I understand in Louisiana and Texas it can work that way sometimes, but we were trying to create a fair rule of law here at some point.
KENNEDY: I agree, Chuck, and if you were right, I would agree with you. If you were right, I would agree with you. But you’re wrong, this hasn't been investigated and just because you think that the vice — I’m not alleging that the vice president did anything wrong, but I'm just telling you the American people are looking at this and going, “okay, — Hunter —
TODD: Alright, I just — whataboutism — and how does that have anything to do with the President of the United States going to another world leader and saying, open an investigation up on my chief political rival?
KENNEDY: Because it has to do with Ukrainian corruption which is what all of this is about.
TODD [LAUGHING]: Well, the Ukrainian corruption, it depends on what you view as corruption.
KENNEDY: Now, now, Chuck. You’re a fair guy —
TODD: What one side says is corrupt, I am trying to be fair here, but you can't gaslight us, sir. Don't gaslight us.
KENNEDY: I'm not gaslighting you. I'm telling you the facts. Do you deny those facts about the — do you think they got Hunter Biden's name off Zip Recruiter? I don't. I don't think the American people do either. I'm not alleging impropriety. I'm saying we need to look into it.
Later, Todd tried to wrap the interview, but not before slipping up and admitting that he was willfully defending Hunter and ghoulishly insisting that Kennedy’s questions (read: the entire Republican Party) are an example of what ills American politics (click “expand”):
TODD: — And well, I — we're going to have to leave it. I'm not going to sit here and defend Hunter Biden and defend lobbying and defend any of that stuff.
KENNEDY: Well, you’re doing a good job. Maybe — maybe he should hire you, you're doing a good job, my friend.
TODD: No, I'm not here to allow a false equivalency to take over, sir. Sir, that's — that’s —
KENNEDY: Why is it a false equivalency?
TODD: — the problem with our politics.
KENNEDY: Tell me — tell me why it's a false — a false equivalency.
“Sir, I don't [sic] here to lay judgment. I just here [sic] am trying to present this fairly without gaslighting the nation, but senator, I will leave it there,” Todd concluded.
Yeah, sure. Chuck. At least you were honest in admitting that you’re a member of the opposition party.
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s MTP Daily on September 24, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s MTP Daily
September 24, 2019
5:30 p.m. EasternSENATOR JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): And I think what you're going to see is an investigation of the whistleblower complaint and you're going to see an investigation of the allegations about Vice President Biden's son. Now, here's what we know about that and if you're going to be fair you have to look at both.
CHUCK TODD: Why? Why is that? If there’s — let me ask you this.
KENNEDY: Well, let me answer.
TODD: No, no, Senator, Senator, no, no, I want you to be able to — I will give you a second to respond here, but here is where I find all this stuff a bunch of — of — it's hard to believe on the Hunter — it's hard to believe the concern about Hunter Biden by — by some of these folks making this case. If they were so serious about this, I'm trying to figure out why nobody from the FBI has been contacted. Not a single person. I don't understand why Rudy Giuliani thinks it's better to investigate an American via an outsourcing to a country that apparently they also didn't trust. Do you see why I'm skeptical that the Hunter Biden stuff is really that serious? If they were serious about it, you go to the FBI, you don't go to an oligarch in Ukraine.
KENNEDY: Well, number one, Chuck, you don't know that the FBI hasn't been contacted.
TODD: And if there were an investigation, senator, don't you think that the — our friends in the White House would let you know publicly that there was sort of inquiry going on?
KENNEDY: You don't know whether the FBI has been contacted or not or if the FBI follows protocol, they wouldn't tell us, that’s point one. Point two, and I hope you'll let me finish, what we do know is this. A Russian oligarch hired Hunter Biden, paid him $50,000 a month, gave a bucket load of money to his law firm. It may turn out that the — the — I said Russia, I meant Ukrainian oligarch. It may turn out that the Ukrainian oligarch got Mr. Biden's name off Zip Recruiter. But I doubt it. If you go to Mr. Biden's Wikipedia page, there are other similar allegations. I'm not making an allegation of impropriety, but I am saying that's going to be investigated. If not — if not at the instigation or the suggestion of Republicans, by Mr. Biden's co-candidates.
TODD: You do realize, senator, that a lot of people have attempted to look into this and they haven't found a there there to look into.
KENNEDY: Who? Who has?
TODD: And — and that's the point here —
KENNEDY: Who? Who has?
TODD: — you brought up the FBI.
KENNEDY: Who's looked into it, Chuck?
TODD: Apparently the Ukrainian government. Apparently every Ukranian journalist. Plenty of people here. We’ve all looked into it. I’m sorry that it — you do —
KENNEDY: Ohhh, okay. Has MS — MSNBC looked into it?
TODD: Yes, sir. You realize you're looking for outcome, not the facts. That’s what you keep telling me.
KENNEDY: No. No. No. That’s your —
TODD: There have been four or five different entities who found nothing.
KENNEDY: — who?
TODD: I just told you.
KENNEDY: MSNBC?
TODD: And they’re not good enough for you. They’re not good enough for you.
KENNEDY: MSN — wait. You said Ukraine?
TODD: I said Ukrainian journalists have, the Ukrainian government has, apparently if the FBI is contacted, the FBI can't seem to open an investigation either because they haven't found enough.
KENNEDY: Do you know that they haven’t opened an investigation?
TODD: We've looked into it. The New York Times has looked into it. Maybe you're right, maybe there's magical missing information here. But at some point, do you not accept all of these entities looking into it to have found the answer? And again, if what Hunter Biden did was wrong, boy, there are a lot of people with the last name of Trump that have some answering to do about their foreign work and their foreign entanglements.
KENNEDY: Well, I'm going to have to disagree with you, Chuck. I don't think there's been an in-depth investigation of this. I don’t.
TODD: What is your definition of it? If it’s conducted by who?
KENNEDY: Well, if you’ll —
TODD: Who would have to conduct this investigation for you to accept there is nothing there? And do we have to conduct investigations basically based on partisan fairness? “Well, if we do this, we have to do that?” That isn't how the rule of law works, sir.
KENNEDY: Well, if you want to be fair, then it seems to me, in my example, that you need to investigate both the alleged bank robber and the alleged violation by the policeman who beat the bank robber — bank robber suspect. Now, you have said there have been investigations. I'm saying who. You're telling me MSNBC has investigated this and concluded that there was nothing wrong with Hunter Biden being picked and put in this circumstance?
TODD: No. The allegation is this. That somehow the vice president was acting on his own behalf, not on the behalf of essentially the entire western world, in calling for a corrupt investigator to get fired. The allegation is that somehow he was doing it at the behest of his son. There is no evidence that anything like that exists. It's an allegation that you're simply making in order to do — it's sort of the old LBJ, “well, we have no idea if it's true but make them deny it.” That's not how politics is supposed to work. I understand in Louisiana and Texas it can work that way sometimes, but we were trying to create a fair rule of law here at some point.
KENNEDY: I agree, Chuck, and if you were right, I would agree with you. If you were right, I would agree with you. But you’re wrong, this hasn't been investigated and just because you think that the vice — I’m not alleging that the vice president did anything wrong, but I'm just telling you the American people are looking at this and going, “okay, — Hunter —
TODD: Alright, I just — whataboutism — and how does that have anything to do with the President of the United States going to another world leader and saying, open an investigation up on my chief political rival?
KENNEDY: Because it has to do with Ukrainian corruption which is what all of this is about.
TODD [LAUGHING]: Well, the Ukrainian corruption, it depends on what you view as corruption.
KENNEDY: Now, now, Chuck. You’re a fair guy —
TODD: What one side says is corrupt, I am trying to be fair here, but you can't gaslight us, sir. Don't gaslight us.
KENNEDY: I'm not gaslighting you. I'm telling you the facts. Do you deny those facts about the — do you think they got Hunter Biden's name off Zip Recruiter? I don't. I don't think the American people do either. I'm not alleging impropriety. I'm saying we need to look into it.
TODD: What I’m telling you is the President of the United States is the one who violated the Constitution, perhaps, not Hunter Biden and Hunter Biden didn’t do any — we don't know if Hunter Biden even —
KENNEDY: “Perhaps” is the operative term,
TODD: And more importantly — and more importantly —
KENNEDY: — because you don't know and I don't know because we haven't seen the transcript, chuck.
TODD: — more importantly, you know all the financial affairs of all of your children?
KENNEDY: I have one child and I do know most of his financial affairs cause I put up the money.
TODD: All of them? So — okay.
KENNEDY: I have one son and I know every penny he gets because I give it to him.
TODD: Do you think he tells you everything he does in his business life?
KENNEDY: I hope not. I sincerely hope not. Some things we're better off not knowing.
TODD: That's right.
KENNEDY: All I’m saying is, Chuck, you're a fair guy. If you're going to be fair here, you're going to have to investigate everybody. The President —
TODD: And it's been done.
KENNEDY: — and the former vice president. No, it hasn't, Chuck.
TODD: Well, I — I
KENNEDY: No, it hasn't, Chuck. Now, now, now you — I hope —
TODD: — And well, I — we're going to have to leave it. I'm not going to sit here and defend Hunter Biden and defend lobbying and defend any of that stuff.
KENNEDY: Well, you’re doing a good job. Maybe — maybe he should hire you, you're doing a good job, my friend.
TODD: No, I'm not here to allow a false equivalency to take over, sir. Sir, that's — that’s —
KENNEDY: Why is it a false equivalency?
TODD: — the problem with our politics.
KENNEDY: Tell me — tell me why it's a false — a false equivalency. The President — we’ll find out tomorrow. The President was talking to the President of Ukraine about corruption. Now, there have been allegations — emphasize allegations — that the vice president's son is involved in corruption —
TODD: And if the President would go to the FBI —
KENNEDY: — tell me why that’s not right?
TODD: Tell me why —
KENNEDY: How do you know he hasn't? How do you know he hasn't?
TODD: — tell me why — then — then why — have you? Why don't you call, ask the FBI if they’re investigating? Do you think it’s —
KENNEDY: I don't have the facts yet.
TODD: — do you think it's important for an American to somehow get their due process from the Ukraine?
KENNEDY: Well, you're saying that Hunter Biden got his process from the Ukraine, you just said he did. I don't agree with that.
TODD: But you also seem to think that it is okay for what Rudy Giuliani and the President did and I don’t know what part of that is okay.
KENNEDY: No. No, no, no. I can't speak for Mr. Giuliani. He's wild as a march hare. I do not speak for Mr. Giuliani. I speak for John Kennedy.
TODD: That's a smart move. Senator, we’re — I think we're in a cul-de-sac here.
KENNEDY: Hey, Chuck — Chuck, one of us is right and the other one is you.
TODD: Sir, I don't here to lay judgment. I just here am trying to present this fairly without gaslighting the nation, but senator, I will leave it there. As you can see, I gave you plenty of time to talk.
KENNEDY: You did. You’re a fine — hey —
TODD: It’s always a pleasure to have you on, sir. You're always — you’re always an honorable individual.
KENNEDY: You're a fine American and pay your taxes.
TODD: I always do. Too mucho. Thank you, sir.
