Shep Smith led off his show Tuesday with a smackdown of Jared Kushner's "disingenuous and deceptive" dismissal of Robert Mueller's conclusions with regard to Russian attacks on the 2016 election.
Just for review, while Mueller did not find that there was a conspiracy with the campaign, he did conclude that Russians had conducted a multi-pronged attack on our country specifically to do harm to Hillary Clinton in order to benefit Donald Trump. So when Jared Kushner dismissed all 200+ pages of Volume I of that report with a breezy "couple of Facebook ads," it wasn't just disingenuous and deceptive. It was infuriating to anyone who actually thinks truth is worth something.
Shep Smith was pretty angry too, listing many of the different intersections between Trump's campaign, Jared Kushner, and Russia, before concluding, "But on the matter of Russian interference, the Facebook ads Jared Kushner referenced were but a sliver of Russia's attack on America."
It's good to see one person at Fox News live on Planet Reality. Hopefully there are some viewers who still watch him before receiving their daily Kool-Aid from Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity.
Transcript below:
Jared Kushner's diminishment of Russian interference is both disingenous and deceptive.
The attack on our democracy involved much more than the purchase of a few Facebook ads. From the Mueller report, we now know Russians made multiple contact with members of the Trump campaign, including Jared Kushner, attempting to change American policies and promote Russian objectives.
They repeatedly received campaign polling data from a member of the Trump team.
They discussed possible business deals, policy goals and getting dirt on Hillary Clinton with the President's son and others.
They conducted cyber espionage, stealing emails and distributing them to help Candidate Trump and hurt Trump's opponent.
They sent Russian operatives to America to learn the landscape and generally sow division in America.
They broke into state and local election computers.
They invaded our nation in both the cyber and physical worlds.
The United States indicted 26 Russian nationals and 3 Russian companies. The Mueller report makes crystal clear, and all U.S. intelligence agencies concur, the Russians are still trying to damage our nation, interfere in our affairs, and influence our election.
Special counsel prosecutors interviewed Jared Kushner for his contacts with the Russians, including the infamous Trump Tower meeting in 2016 with Donald Trump, Jr. and the President's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
Mueller wrote that "while there is evidence of communications between the Trump campaign and Moscow, there was no coordination."
But on the matter of Russian interference, the Facebook ads Jared Kushner referenced were but a sliver of Russia's attack on America.
