During a recent episode of his show, MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan and independent journalist Matt Taibbi had a tense argument regarding Taibbi’s Twitter Files reporting and past coverage by MSNBC.
Hasan criticized Taibbi for not disclosing his sources in front of Congress and questioned his credibility as a journalist. In his opening monologue, Hasan also accused Taibbi of just “doing PR work for the world’s richest man,” Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Hasan, of course, knows that a cardinal rule of journalists is never to reveal sources.
Taibbi fired back by accusing MSNBC of reporting on “fake Russian hit stories.”
“The hilarity of this coming from MSNBC, which did nothing but vomit up fake Russian hit stories that came straight from the FBI for six consecutive years, you guys still haven’t apologized for it,” Taibbi said, likely referencing the false news stories claiming then-President Donald Trump was a Russian asset, a fake claim made by most major news outlets.
Hasan deflected by arguing that he was not working at the network when MSNBC dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation.
Taibbi responded by defending his reporting in the Twitter Files and stated that reporting is “going to hold up over the test of time, unlike your Russian story.” He went on to criticize Hasan for downplaying the Hunter Biden story.
“I don’t think I’ve ever written about the Hunter Biden story, so maybe you should apologize for putting words in my mouth. You said at the beginning I put words, I never said a word about the Hunter Biden story,” Hasan claimed.
But that said, a Twitter user posted a quote from Hasan in which he appeared to minimize the laptop stories.
“Even if every word of the New York Post ‘reporting’ on Hunter Biden is true, every word of it, it still wouldn’t equate to one percent of the corruption stories involving Trump, Trump family members, Trump administration members, or Trump administration members’ family members,” Hasan wrote in an Oct. 2020 tweet.
It should be noted that the former president and his family members have been accused of a lot — but have never been charged and thus never convicted of any crimes. Trump himself was recently indicted by George Soros-financed Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, but a large and growing number of legal experts argue he has no real case.
WATCH:
Matt Taibbi clowns MSNBC stooge…pic.twitter.com/8JvVnqFsAe
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) April 8, 2023
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.