A group of Republican members of Congress exchanged heated words with an NBC News reporter after she asked them questions about Ukraine.
Reps. Lee Zeldin of New York, Elise Stefanik of New York, and Mike Johnson of Louisiana gaggled with reporters on Tuesday when NBC’s Heidi Przybyla asked for an example of Ukrainian corruption of concern to President Trump that doesn’t relate to him personally.
They tussled with the reporter as she asked them to explain the corruption the president was concerned about besides allegations surrounding the Bidens and the Crowdstrike theory. The president referenced both in his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which was the catalyst behind his impeachment.
Zeldin started to answer the question but then said, “If I give a good answer, that doesn’t mean that you have to cut me off, OK? I know that if I give a bad answer, you’d probably let me go all day.”
Then, as he was about to answer the question again, he opted to ask if other reporters had different questions.
“I know it’s a hard question,” Przybyla said, adding that Trump “is not on the record mentioning anything other than Biden and Crowdstrike, and you haven’t mentioned anything else.”
“I’m happy to answer your question, but all I was asking was, because you have a lot of colleagues here,” Zeldin said as Przybyla interjected, “You guys want the answer, right?”
Other reporters spoke up in agreement, and Zeldin said, “OK, I’m happy to, but just, you have a unique style, OK, and it’s one that might not be as, I mean, you’re not looking around to see if anyone else has any other questions.”
Zeldin and Przybyla proceeded to argue over the testimony heard in the House of Representative’s impeachment proceedings. Stefanik and Johnson then both tried stepping up to the podium to answer Przybyla’s question but also ended up arguing with her.
