WATCH: Republicans Lash Out at NBC News Reporter During White-Hot Impeachment Grilling
NBC News correspondent Heidi Przybyla locked horns with Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and two of his colleagues, who lashed out at her as she grilled them about the Ukraine scandal that underpins the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
Zeldin joined Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) in a gaggle with reporters on Tuesday, during which Przybyla tried to find out what corruption President Trump was concerned about that did not relate to his own personal political fortunes.
She began by noting that the government of Ukraine had “met all anti-corruption standards” when Trump decided to withhold military aid, and asked “what specific corruption” caused him to do so.
Zeldin launched into a history lesson about concerns over corruption in Ukraine, and when Przybyla tried to interject — likely to remind Zeldin that that history was baked into the standards that the Defense Department said Ukraine had met — Zeldin chided her to, “Let me finish the answer, please, and I’ll get right back to you.”
When Zeldin went on to cite the election of Volodymyr Zelensky as a reason to hold up the aid, Przybyla interjected again to point out that Zelensky ran on an anti-corruption platform, and Zeldin huffed, “You have to let me answer the question.”
He began to respond again, then turned to Przybyla and said, “If I give a good answer, that doesn’t mean that you have to cut me off. I know if I give a bad answer, you’d probably let me go all day.”
Zeldin then went into a granular description of Ukrainian civic organization that lasted several minutes, arguing that parliamentary elections and legislative activity justified the hold.
“Biden, Crowdstrike, and what is the other specific corruption?” Przybyla asked, referencing the only two issues Trump broached on his now-infamous call with Zelensky.
Zeldin started to answer, then asked the other reporters if they had other questions.
“I know it’s a hard question,” Przybyla said, and added 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, and Przybyla interjected, “You guys want the answer, right?”
The other reporters indicated agreement, and Zeldin said, “Okay I’m happy to, but just, you have a unique style, okay, 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 protested.
Zeldin spent several minutes attacking former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, calling reporters “Schiff’s shills,” and being grilled by other reporters to answer the question.
Eventually, Stefanik and Johnson tagged in and also failed to explain what other corruption existed to override the Defense Department’s approval to release the aid.
Watch the clip above via NBC, and the full gaggle here.
