Fox News host Tucker Carlson slammed Democratic Congressman David Cicilline, who claimed on Carlson’s show that RT is simply a “Russian propaganda” machine.
The confrontation starts off as Cicilline says the US should “hold them [the Russian government] to account and sanction them,” so that “Russia understands that America isn’t going to allow that.”
Host Tucker Carlson interrupted to ask: “Not to allow what exactly?”
Cicilline stumbles with his response, repeating instead a familiar refrain among politicians in the United States: “Russian RT propaganda” is to blame.
Carlson continues to press Cicilline: “You said RT is a problem. RT is a cable network. It’s a very left-wing one by the way. I don’t watch it, but… RT is a part of the American press corps. Do you think we should ban RT? What are you saying exactly?”
Cicilline does not give a direct answer, saying instead that “the Russian government, led by Vladimir Putin, engaged in a very sophisticated effort to undermine the election of Hillary Clinton.”
He then dwelled a little on the claim that “RT promoted propaganda, fake stories, that were then retweeted on the internet,” going on to slam the channel as “not a news organization.” The lawmaker, though, did not voice any facts to back up his allegations. Fox News’s Carlson seemed to disagree on this, too.
“Ed Schultz works there! Larry King works there!”
The show’s host then tried to fish out any answer from Carlson, asking: so should RT be banned if it’s such a problem?
“It’s not a question of should be allowed,” Cicilline says, adding, “They facilitated the release of stolen emails.” To this, Carlson retorts, “Well, so did the New York Times.”
Cicilline reluctantly agrees that “Russian propaganda can exist, but what we can do is protect our democracy from it,” prompting the question from Carlson: ‘How, exactly?’
“We can punish the Russians for what they did,” Cicilline responds. “For having a cable network?” Carlson wonders, also asking what role Larry King, one of RT’s “lead anchors,” plays in “the Russian propaganda,” as put by Cicilline.
“I have no idea. I don’t know about Larry King’s show,” the senator says.
In the end, both Carlson and Cicilline admit that Russia stories are quite exhausting, but Cicilline points out that “You wanna talk about Russia, because it’s salacious and people watch your show because of it.”
