Lemon Rips Jack Kingston for Blaming Birtherism on Hillary: ‘I Won’t be the Purveyor of Fake News
Lemon rips Jack Kingston For Blaming Birtherism on Hillary: ‘I Won’t be the Purveyor of Fake News’ (Mediaite)
Following President Donald Trump’s off-the-rails press conference on Tuesday in which he blamed “both sides” for the violence in Charlottesville and defended the alt-right, there has been quite a bit of media discussion about Trump’s past racially insensitive behavior andhow we shouldn’t be too surprised by his current actions. And much of that conversation has centered on Trump’s years-long embrace of birtherism.
During a CNN panel discussion this evening, things went predictably awry when one Trump-supporting pundit attempted to swat away the president’s birther past by bringing up Trump’s own accusation that it was actually Hillary Clinton who started the birther movement.
After legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin pointed out that it was peculiar to him that anyone was shocked by Trump current behavior considering he had engaged in the “most appalling type of discussion” before, Kingston jumped in.
“First of all, I think Jeffrey has a point,” the conservative political commentator stated. “I don’t know why everybody — I think they’re feigning indignation. I want to point out the birther stuff was started by Hillary Clinton.”
And then it was ON!
Immediately, the entire panel went after Kingston, telling him it was a lie and that it had been refuted. Anchor Don Lemon, referencing a previous segment when the ex-Congressman fumbled with a talking point, told Kingston that it “was another talking point you need to get right before coming on here.”
As Kingston tried to say it actually hadn’t been debunked, Lemon kept cutting him off, telling the pundit that he wasn’t going to be allowed to spew lies on the air.
“Jack, it’s not true!” Lemon exclaimed when Kingston kept persisting. Yet, the former Georgia lawmaker still kept going, all while Toobin tossed his hands in the air.
As the segment came to an end, Lemon lectured for pushing the notion that Clinton created birtherism, saying the following:
“Jack, we love having you. If you repeat the lie jack — let me get my thought out. If you repeat a lie enough people believe it. I don’t want lies repeated and people believing untruths. I won’t be the purveyor of fake news.”
Towards the end of the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump finally copped to the fact that President Barack Obama was born in the United States after spending years peddling birtherism, but not before blaming Hillary for getting the ball rolling on the conspiracy.
