A NewsNation guest is calling “bull—t” on an anchor’s claim that he “hijacked” a segment on Washington D.C. crime by mentioning the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan had questioned Monday on NewsNation’s On Balance how Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard under the guise of curtailing crime in the city squared with his role in the insurrection and subsequent pardoning of about 1,500 rioters.
But host Leland Vittert didn’t want to hear it. The former Fox News host abruptly ended the interview, and the following night claimed that viewers “deserve better” than to have someone “hijack” a segment.
“Everybody is welcome to disagree on policy or argue data or philosophy,” began Vittert. “That’s why we have this program. That’s what makes us different. That’s what makes you, as a viewer, different. You choose to tune in here to hear things you disagree with and to be challenged.
”But no one is welcome to come on here and hijack a segment and make it about something four years ago that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand.”
Hasan, a former MSNBC host, rejected that assessment.
“It’s absolute bull—t from a guy who didn’t want his viewers to hear a simple fact: that the president who claims to want to crack down on crime against police officers and monuments pardoned 100s of criminals who did just that,” he told the Daily Beast in a statement.
A NewsNation spokesperson didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Vittert on Tuesday said that his viewers deserved more than “talking points.”
“You deserve an honest conversation on the merits of policy and making us a better country, not talking points,” he told them. “January 6 was awful. I was in the middle of it. Hell, I was even confronted by the mob, multiple times. It is a stain on our country’s history. But it was four years ago. It has absolutely nothing to do with the current crime epidemic in D.C.”
The NewsNation host then questioned the district’s violent crime data, which shows a decrease of 26 percent compared to this point last year.
Vittert pointed to an NBC 4 Washington story from last month about how a D.C. police commander was suspended after the police union accused him of altering crime data.
“The union claims police supervisors in the department manipulate crime data to make it appear violent crime has fallen considerably compared to last year,” Vittert said, quoting the story.
“So maybe the talking points aren’t even true,” he mused. “Even the chief of the DC Metro Police Department is now welcoming the cooperation with federal law enforcement.”
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