‘Go Back and Look at the Tape’: Trump Impeachment Lawyer Throws Down With Ari Melber in Heated Clash

MSNBC’s Ari Melber had an intense clash with David Schoen, grilling the former Donald Trump impeachment defense lawyer over the ex-president’s election lies.

Schoen joined Melber on Tuesday’s The Beat, during which the MSNBC host noted how many Republicans refuse to engage on the evidence presented against Trump by the January 6th Committee. As an example, Melber pointed out Bill Barr‘s testimony, describing the former attorney general as “a Republican lawyer in somewhat good standing in the party” who called out Trump’s “bullsh*t” claims the 2020 election was stolen.

Melber gravitated around the question of how does the country move forward on a factual basis, considering that the storming of the U.S. Capitol occurred because Trump’s supporters believed his false claims. Schoen answered by saying Trump “believes wholeheartedly that he wasn’t lying” about the election, but then he took issue with Melber painting him as a supposed “Republican lawyer.”

“You beckoned to me before as a ‘Republican Lawyer.’ I represented the Democratic Party,” Schoen said. That prompted Melber to correctly point out he was talking about Barr when he said that.

The clash continued:

Melber: I just have to stop you —

Schoen: I’m not carrying water —

Melber: I will let you finish, David, but when you raise something not true on this program it will be dealt with in real time. I said Bill Barr was a Republican lawyer in good standing.

Schoen: And you pointed to me when you said that! That’s all that I meant.

Melber: I’m not calling you that. I know your background

Schoen: You pointed to me when you said that. That’s all that I meant. I didn’t say that you called me a Republican lawyer.

Melber: Okay then, go ahead.

Schoen: When you said that, you pointed. Go back and look at the tape and you’ll see it.

Melber: So what’s your point?

Schoen eventually got to make his argument against the” politicization of the Justice Department” after the January 6 Committee’s criminal referrals against Trump. Melber followed up by referring back to his previous question, saying Schoen had yet to explain “wouldn’t it be better to move forward on the truth” about the 2020 election.

Watch the rest of the conversation above via MSNBC.