GOP Rep Refuses to Approve of Trump Conduct in Mueller Report in Fiery MSNBC Interview

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes engaged in a fiery back-and-forth with Congressman Sean Duffy (R-WI) on his show, pressing the Republican six separate times to say whether or not he approved of the conduct of Donald Trump as detailed in the Mueller report, without ever getting a straight answer.

Hayes teed off his segment with a clip of Republican Congressman Justin Amash making his public case for Trump’s impeachment. He then turned to Duffy, a staunch pro-Trump advocate, and pressed him to assess the number of damning details about Trump’s conduct from Volume II of the report.

“I want to put aside for a moment the question of impeachment and talk about what Justin Amash, your colleague said about the conduct, the conduct reflected in the report,” Hayes said. “Is there anything in the report in the conduct of the president that you just think is not cool, not good, not the kind of thing that you would advise or…”

Duffy quickly downshifted in deflection mode. “What concerns me about the whole report is how this even began, Chris,” he told Hayes. “The fact that you had the Democrat National Committee and Hillary Clinton started an investigation on Donald Trump that lasted for two years, and now whether it’s Justin Amash or Democrats who say we’re upset that Donald Trump attempted to obstruct the fake Russia investigation. There was no obstruction. Donald Trump gave them all kinds of information.”

Trying again, Hayes brought up Duffy’s former role as a county prosecutor. “I just want to answer the question. The president did the things he did. They’re reflected in the report,” Hayes reiterated. “But just on that question, when you read the report, when you’ve gone through the conduct, there anything the president did, any conduct he took, any behavior that you don’t say to yourself, ‘Look, I’m a former prosecutor. That’s not cool. That’s not a good thing. I wouldn’t someone working for me to do that.'”

Very much not giving a bottom line answer to the question, Duffy replied: “Listen, the bottom line is Donald Trump complied. If Donald Trump had done something — Chris, he didn’t obstruct the investigation.”

A third time, still no charm. “But congressman, that’s not an answer to the question,” Hayes pointed out again. “I’m not asking whether he complied or not. I’m asking if there conduct reflected in the report.

The pair continued to clash, with Hayes trying to corner Duffy and get him to honestly answer on Trump’s conduct with the Congressman stubbornly refusing.

Exasperated, Hayes tried one more time to extract a small measure of direct accountability. “Do you think the president’s conduct was appropriate and do you endorse it? Wait a second. Please answer the question. I’ve asked this question six times. Do you approve of the conduct or not?”

But Duffy would not budge. “We don’t have the same personalities,” he said, “but I love the policies that have had a huge impact on my people. And I think to impeach this president after this fake investigation is outrageous. And I’m going to make one prediction. If Democrats do this, it is going to be bad for America, but it is going to be great for Donald Trump.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.