‘They’ve Actually Done Jasmine Crockett Dirty’ GOP Strategist Offers Surprising Defense of Democrat Amid Colbert Drama

Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett offered a surprising defense of Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) on Saturday, arguing her fellow Democrats have done her “dirty.”

On MS NOW’s The Weekend, Bartlett, who was a State Department appointee in President Donald Trump’s first administration, called talk of “Trump suppression” of an interview between late-night comedian Stephen Colbert and Texas State Representative James Talarico (D) a “false narrative.”

Colbert claimed during a recent broadcast that he was told by CBS lawyers in “no uncertain terms” that he could not air the Talarico interview because he may violate an “equal time” rule with the FCC, something FCC Chair Brendan Carr has been warning will be taken more seriously. He recently announced a probe into The View for potential violation of the rule, which relates to television and radio broadcasts.

Talarico and Crockett are both running for the same Senate seat in Texas.

CBS pushed back on Colbert’s claim, saying they never barred the interview from being aired.

“THE LATE SHOW was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico. The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled,” they said.

The interview was dropped on YouTube where it’s received millions of views. Talarico also saw a $2.5 million bump in fundraising.

“Listen, I, you know, as a conservative, I think there’s been a lot of political maneuvering that has been quite impressive,” Bartlett said on Saturday. “This notion of Trump is going to stop Colbert in order to stop Talarico, people kind of went with this narrative. I’m not sure it’s true. I think, candidly, they’ve actually done Jasmine Crockett dirty.”

Barlett was partly responding to a Tuesday clip of Talarico on MS NOW where the lawmaker claimed Trump and his “billionaire” friends are “trying to silence him.”

Bartlett said he believes the “they” who did Crockett “dirty” are Democratic staffers and teams surrounding Colbert and others.

“I would say some of the Colbert media folks and some of the and some of the Democratic, you know, staffers with Talarico here,” he argued. “So I’m not sure, you know — everyone likes to be the victim — I’m not sure Talarico was the victim of Trump suppression. I think Jasmine Crockett might be the victim of a false media narrative.”

Watch above via MS NOW.

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