Only on Fox News would a host spend more than four minutes trying to discredit a colleague’s opinion, in this case contributor Donna Brazile’s claim that Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was a factor in Donald Trump’s win over Hillary Clinton.
Last weekend, Brazile told Fox & Friends that “the reason why” Hillary Clinton “is not in the White House today is because this country was attacked” by Russia. Brazile also said there were other reasons Clinton lost.
But even though Brazile has a contributor's contract with Fox News because the network supposedly values her political analysis, host Neil Cavuto seemed hell-bent on discrediting it when she appeared on his Fox Business show yesterday in a segment that was re-aired on his Fox News show.
The segment was ostensibly about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s climate plan But, at about 4:14, Cavuto started in on Brazile’s Russia comments. He asked, with hammy incredulity, whether she thought Trump “an illegitimate president.”
"Russia played a role in 2016, and I say while there are other factors that also led to Secretary Clinton falling short of the 270 votes, yes, I do believe that Russia was a major factor in the debacle in 2016," Brazile said.
"But you said Russia's the reason why she was denied the White House. Don't you think that that fuels an impression that if not for Russia, Donald Trump would never have gotten to the White House?" Cavuto chided.
"You know before he deleted the tweet he put out about Russia's help, I do believe that the Russians sought to help Donald Trump and to defeat Hillary Clinton." Brazile said. In fact, the Mueller report said the same thing. It noted that Trump welcomed Russia’s help though it stopped short of saying Russia’s efforts actually helped him succeed.
"I push back on those who don't believe that the interference caused havoc and created chaos and sowed discord,” Brazile said. “I push back on the notion that a foreign country that sought to influence the election they should've been reported. … I think it's time that we put our Constitution, defend out democracy ahead of partisan politics."
Cavuto agreed about defending democracy but continued going after Brazile – as if his network had not tried to delegitimize Barack Obama’s presidency by promoting Trump’s bogus birtherism.
"When you are all but saying if not for Russia, Hillary Clinton would be in the White House, that addresses nothing about her lousy campaign, her refusal to go to these big manufacturing states,” Cavuto insisted.
They went back and forth on that until Brazile finally said, "I accept the fact that Donald Trump is president of the United States. I'm not litigating what happened in 2016. What I do believe is that if we don't work today to protect our elections, we’re going to have another repeat of 2016."
Sadly, Brazile’s current employer seems like it couldn’t care less.
Watch it below, from the June 4, 2019 Cavuto: Coast to Coast.