MSNBC hosts corrected their claims Tuesday night that Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump as “very good friends.”
The Associated Press (AP) retracted its initial story making this claim Tuesday and clarified that Gabbard was referring to Trump’s friendship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During Monday night’s airing, MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle and guest host Jonathan Capehart falsely reported that Gabbard referred to Putin during an interview with NDTV, an Indian network.
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“Last night, “The Last Word” reported on excerpts of an interview between the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and an Indian TV news network in which she said that Trump was good friends with the world leader. Now we said that world leader was Vladimir Putin, but the full interview was subsequently released and it showed that Gabbard was referring to Donald Trump and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” guest host Ali Velshi said.
Ruhle made a similar correction during her airtime.
“Last night, we reported on excerpts of an interview between the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard and an Indian TV news network in which she said that Trump was good friends with a world leader,” Ruhle said. “Now we said that world leader was Vladimir Putin, but the full interview shows that Gabbard was referring to Trump and Indian Prime Minister Modi. We cleared that up.”
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The AP published a corrected version of its initial story, “Gabbard Says Trump And Putin Are ‘Very Good Friends’ Focused On Strengthening Ties,” in order to “delete erroneous reporting” made about Gabbard. A spokesperson for the AP told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the initial article “did not meet [their] standards” in a Tuesday statement.
Gabbard told NDTV that Trump and Modi’s friendship will help both leaders achieve their “shared objectives” and interests.
“With President Trump’s leadership in the United States, of course Prime Minister Modi’s longstanding leadership here in India, we have two leaders of our two great countries who are very good friends and who are very focused on how we can strengthen those shared objectives and those shared interests,” Gabbard said.
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Trump spoke with Putin in a lengthy phone call Tuesday where they ultimately agreed to a temporary ceasefire, which included the possibility of a peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine war.
The corporate media has repeatedly accused Trump and Gabbard of being Russian assets and threats to national security.
Following the 2016 election, Trump’s campaign was falsely accused of colluding with Russia and of being “Putin’s puppet,” while Democrats have repeatedly accused Gabbard of being an asset to the Kremlin.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
