MSNBC host Chuck Todd mocked Texas Sen. Ted Cruz after he defended his Republican colleague Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy’s claims that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election.
During a Meet the Press interview on Sunday, Todd asked Cruz bluntly, “Do you believe Ukraine meddled in the election in 2016.”
Cruz paused, then responded, “I do, and I think there’s considerable evidence.”
“You do?” Todd responded as laughter broke out from the set of his show.
He continued, “Senator, this sort of strikes me as odd. because you went through a primary campaign with this president. He launched a birtherism campaign against you. He went after your faith. He threatened to quote ‘spill the beans on your wife’ about something. He pushed a National Enquirer story, which we now know he had a real relationship with the editors.”
“Thank you for dragging up all that garbage; that’s very kind of you,” Cruz replied.
He then attacked Todd for his repeated coverage of an incident where Kennedy told Fox News Sunday that he believed Ukraine had stolen a server from the Democratic National Committee. Kennedy walked back those comments shortly after he said them and explained that he thought he had been asked if he believed Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election.
Cruz hit back at Todd, saying, “It’s hysterical two years ago there was article after article after article the mainstream media about Ukrainian interference in the elections. But now, the Democrats have no evidence of a crime, no evidence of violating the law. And so suddenly Ukrainian interference is treated as, the media clutches their pearls, ‘Oh my goodness, you can’t say that.’ Last week, Chuck, you called Senator John Kennedy, basically, a stooge for Putin.”
Todd decried Cruz’s summary of MSNBC’s coverage of Kennedy. He asked Cruz if he attended the Senate briefing from U.S. intelligence agencies, which explained that stories about Ukraine meddling in 2016 could be Russian disinformation.
Cruz replied, “I have been in multiple briefings, year after year after year, about foreign interference in our election. Russia has tried to interfere in our elections. China has tried to interfere in our elections. North Korea’s tried to interfere in our elections. Ukraine has tried to interfere in our elections. This is not new. 2016 is not the first year they did it. They will keep trying.”
Cruz, 48, has been a defender of Trump since the contentious primary race in 2016. He called the impeachment effort in the House a “kangaroo court.”
