NBC host Seth Meyers corners Kellyanne Conway on Trump-Russia blackmail scandal
Many Americans have found themselves exasperated at the media’s unwillingness to corner Donald Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway on her obfuscation and lies whenever she appears on television. And while the media has finally shown a bit more of a backbone toward Conway over the past week, it turns out the very first television interviewer to aggressively corner her is NBC Late Night host Seth Meyers. In particular, he managed to catch her off guard with a newly breaking Russian blackmail scandal, and made her look utterly foolish.
Seth Meyers used a blueprint for knocking Kellyanne Conway off her game which had been partly exposed by his NBC colleague Rachel Maddow last month: compliment Conway constantly, use a cheerful tone, and get her so full of herself that she trips up and spins herself into a corner. Meyers followed that blueprint by congratulating her out of the gate on being the first woman campaign manager of a winning presidential campaign. But then he almost immediately pivoted to the latest Russia revelations.
Meyers asked Conway to confirm that the intelligence community had briefed Donald Trump on the intel that has Russia holding compromising personal and business information on Trump. She dodged the question by insisting the intel hadn’t been sourced, and that it was based on a Russian investigator. Meyers immediately pushed back by pointing out it was actually a British MI6 investigator. She then tried to blame Hillary Clinton, while insisting that the intelligence community leaked the info to the press before briefing Trump on the matter. Meyers cut her off: “I believe it said they did brief him on it.”
When Kellyanne Conway said that Donald Trump was not aware of the intel, even though it was in his briefing, Seth Meyers sarcastically deadpanned: “That concerns me.” This continued on other topics, with Meyers remaining cheerful but regularly cutting off Conway any time she said something false or dodged a question. Watch the entire interview below:
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report