Fox News host Chris Wallace cut off Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy after he tried to claim that he doesn’t know if Ukraine or Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee’s emails in 2016.
Wallace asked Kennedy to respond to claims the president made as recently as Friday that Ukraine may have a “missing” email server from the DNC following the 2016 hacks. President Trump suggested during his July 25 phone call with Ukraine that the company CrowdStrike should be investigated.
CrowdStrike is the American firm that assisted the DNC following the email hacks, but several members of the intelligence community and impeachment witness Fiona Hill believe any accusations that Ukraine was responsible are from a Russian disinformation campaign to blame Ukraine for its 2016 election interference.
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, Wallace asked Kennedy, “Who do you believe was responsible for hacking the DNC and Clinton campaign computers, their emails? Was it Russia or Ukraine?”
Kennedy said that he didn’t know who was responsible for the hacks and claimed that no one else knows either, saying, “I don’t know, nor do you, nor do any of us.”
Wallace cut Kennedy off before he could continue, telling the senator, “Let me just interrupt to say the entire intelligence community says it was Russia.”
Kennedy didn’t let Wallace’s interjection change his statement, however. He continued, “Right, but it could also be Ukraine. I’m not saying that I know one way or the other. I’m saying that Ms. Hill is entitled to her opinion, but no rebuttal evidence was allowed to be offered.”
Wallace has been vocal about his frustration with Trump’s conduct surrounding last week’s impeachment hearings. He claimed that the witnesses were consistent and demonstrated that Trump had encouraged a quid pro quo with Ukraine.
“What becomes clear in all of this is that … everybody seemed to be working off the same set of facts,” Wallace said. “And that they all believed the same thing, which was that there was a quid pro quo. If you wanted a meeting with the president, you were going to have to agree to investigate the 2016 allegations of Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election as well as Burisma.”
Trump has criticized Wallace for his impeachment coverage, calling the Fox News host “nasty.”
