Just as the Russia investigation seems to be closing in on the Trump campaign, Fox host Brian Kilmeade blatantly endorsed Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis’ legislation to kill it. While he was at it, Kilmeade suggested the real criminal activity has been on the part of the prosecutors.
DeSantis appeared on Fox & Friends this morning where it was to be expected he’d receive a friendly platform for his legislation. But Kilmeade went the extra mile to help Team Trump evade a reckoning.
Kilmeade's endorsement occurred right in his introduction. Media Matters has the transcript:
KIILMEADE: Is it time to end the Russia investigation? One Republican congressman says yes, and soon. He's proposing legislation to kill the special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into the presidential's (sic) ties into Russia six months after it passes. It seems reasonable. Here to explain his new measure is Florida GOP congressman, member of the House Oversight Committee of Government Reform Ron DeSantis. Congressman, six months is enough. Plus, you had James Comey investigating prior to this. Where's this proposal going?
DeSantis replied by suggesting that the Mueller investigation is a fishing expedition. DeSantis added, “My amendment basically says, look, this thing needs to be limited to the campaign and Russia and it needs to have an end date. If you haven't produced evidence of a crime after almost two years of investigating, because [then-FBI Director James] Comey investigated for a year before Mueller was appointed, then at some point we have to move on with the American people's business.”
DeSantis, a former prosecutor, surely knows that the Russia investigation is complex. He should also know that the average special prosecutor investigation lasts more than two years.
Anyone who calls himself a news host, even a blatantly biased one, should know, too. But Kilmeade’s failure to impart that information to his viewers proves yet again that his goal was to propagandize, not inform.
Kilmeade further proved his propagandistic priority in his next “question.”
KILMEADE: Does it concern you what you’ve known so far, the fact that they raid Paul Manafort's house? They are looking at his international contacts. Does it bother you that Robert Mueller reportedly conferring with the archenemy of President Trump, the [New York] Attorney General Schneiderman, who’s -- they’ve been going at each other for years. Now they’re conferring directly. Does that bother you or encourage you that they’re trying to get to the end of this?
And shocker! DeSantis said it concerns him. Then he gave another plug for his legislation. “The appointing order that [Deputy Attorney General Rod] Rosenstein issued to appoint Mueller, it invites a fishing expedition because there is no limits to it. Congress needs to provide those limits.”
But Kilmeade took the attack on the investigation a step beyond “fishing expedition” and suggested the prosecutors are the real wrongdoers:
KILMEADE: Rosenstein seems to be a gift to Democrats and anti-Trumpers that just want to see this president not be successful. The way this was written seems criminal.
As Media Matters noted, this discussion just happened to occur one day after Politico reported that Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort is “intensifying” and has “collected evidence on financial crimes, including potential money laundering.”
What a coincidence!
Watch Kilmeade smear the investigators and the investigation above, from the August 31, 2017 Fox & Friends.
Originally published at Newshounds.us
