Outnumbered Blows Up Over FBI Informant: Trump ‘Wants to Discredit Mueller!’
Fox News’ Outnumbered panel battled it out on Tuesday over reports the FBI had an informant speak to advisers of the Trump campaign, and the president’s attempts to cast these revelations as a grand conspiracy to “spy” on him and sabotage his presidential efforts.
Donald Trump blasted special counsel Robert Mueller‘s probe in tweets Tuesday morning, calling it “rigged” and claiming the investigator was trying to “meddle” in the 2018 midterm elections.
Fox Business host David Asman, eager to champion Trump’s glaringly obvious attempts to rebrand the investigation into his campaign as corrupt, first blasted the New York Times for calling the president’s “SPYGATE” claims a conspiracy theory.
“[The New York Times] is trying to discredit their own story,” Asman claimed.
“No they aren’t,” Fox News contributor Jessica Tarlov shot back.
“Yes they are,” Asman said. “Whether you call it a spy or an informant, the same kind of procedure was used to collect information from the Trump campaign.” (Not exactly: read more about the spy/informant distinction here.)
“Spying on the Trump campaign and investigating Russian interference are different,” Tarlov said, pointing out that even Republican Senator Marco Rubio rejected Trump’s “SPYGATE” claims.
“It’s a twofer when you’re with the Obama administration,” Asman contended.
“The president wants to discredit Mueller,” Tarlov replied.
The two clashed as Asman went on to suggest, without any evidence, that the Obama administration worked with the Hillary Clinton campaign to sabotage Trump’s campaign.
“Fusion GPS! Fusion GPS!” Asman began shouting at one point.
Harris Faulkner backed up Asman’s claims by noting that Clinton’s campaign was “so curious” about her opponent that she paid for a opposition research provided by ex-British spy Christopher Steele.
Katie Pavlich then reiterated a string theory she laid out on Monday: the Clinton campaign hired Fusion GPS for oppo research, the firm hired former foreign spy Steele, Steele used Russian sources to gather dirt on Trump. (The real collusion!)
Pavlich added that “it is very clear that the Trump administration is trying to discredit Robert Mueller.”
“That seems to be working,” she said, noting polls that showed a declining faith in the objectivity of the investigation.
Watch above, via Fox News.
[image via screengrab]
