The editor of the left-wing The Nation on Monday refused to say whether she thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible for murdering Russian reporters and dissidents, prompting MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough to beg her several times to answer his simple question.
Katrina Vanden Heuvel and her husband, contributing editor Stephen Cohen, have been criticized before for acting as “apologists” for Putin’s Russia. The Nation describes itself as the “flagship” of the political left.
The fight started immediately, when Vanden Heuvel ignored Scarborough’s question about Putin’s allegedly brutal tactics, and instead criticized MSNBC and the media at large for its constant coverage of GOP front-runner Donald Trump.
Trump has again courted controversy by gladly accepting an apparent endorsement from the Russian president, which is why the casino tycoon was mentioned at the outset of the “Morning Joe” segment Monday morning.
“Don’t even try that, Katrina!” Scarborough said as Vanden Heuvel dodged. “I’m trying to ask a serious question. This happens all the time; we ask questions and people come back to Trump.”
Vanden Heuvel finally responded at one point by saying she knows a lot of people in Russian media, and they don’t seem to think Putin is responsible for any murders.
“They do not believe Putin ordered the assassinations. They do believe he created the climate,” Vanden Heuvel started to say.
Scarborough said that kind of answer would only allow Trump to defend the support he’s getting from Putin, even as many other Republicans have said Trump should take a tougher public line against Putin.
“Donald Trump will take what you’ve just said and say, ‘She’s proven my point,'” Scarborough shot back. “You’re not proving Donald Trump’s point, are you?”
“I think it is vital for U.S. national security interests to have a relationship with Russia,” she responded.
“I need you to answer the question,” the MSNBC host persisted. “Is Donald Trump right and am I wrong when I say Vladimir Putin was responsible for the killing of journalists?”
“I think you’re trying to do a false equivalence. I will not equate my views with Donald Trump,” she said.
“No, I’m not!” an increasingly agitated Scarborough interjected. “I’m trying to get you to answer the question. Is Vladimir Putin responsible for the killing of journalists? That’s all I want! This isn’t a trick question.”
“Many Western scholars have many different views of Vladimir Putin,” the magazine editor dodged. “I’m going to cite my Russian friend … who has lived and suffered, worked with journalists who have been assassinated … he does not believe that Putin ordered the assassinations, he believes Putin created the climate.”
“I’m not going to agree with Donald Trump,” she added, again ignoring Scarborough’s persistent questioning.
“It sounds like you are,” the MSNBC host said. “Katrina, I need you to answer the question! You won’t answer any question. I’m on your side here, Katrina. It sounds like you are actually defending Putin!”
Vanden Heuvel once again evaded the question, and answered instead by saying that Russia and the United States need to work together defeat the Islamic State.
She also said that the United States needs to stop acting like it’s still in a “cold war.”
“A lot of people at home right now are saying, ‘She’s not answering the question,'” Scarborough said.
