MSNBC host Katy Tur on Monday compared the mysterious deaths of journalists in Russia who spoke out against President Vladimir Putin to President Donald Trump's "distaste" for the media.
NewsBusters flagged the video, in which Tur appears to suggest that Trump could eventually treat journalists in the U.S. as Putin does in Russia.
Tur was speaking with Sen. Deb Fischer (R., Neb.) and brought up Trump's reluctance to criticize his Russian counterpart.
The MSNBC host cited an interview Sunday between Trump and Bill O'Reilly in which the Fox News commentator asked if Trump thought Putin was a "killer." The Kremlin demanded an apology for O'Reilly's comments the next day.
Trump's answer was widely criticized because he appeared to draw a moral equivalence between the U.S. and Russia.
"Senator, the junior senator in your state, Sen. Ben Sasse, came out pretty strongly over the weekend condemning Donald Trump's assertion that we are just as bad as Russia," Tur said to Fischer. "When he said that, you know, we–America does bad and terrible things, too, when Bill O'Reilly asked him if Vladimir Putin was a killer. Why–what is your sense of why this president is going above and beyond–bending over backwards, if you will–to stay away from criticizing the Russian president? And it's almost gives him an excuse."
Tur then directly linked Trump's "going after journalists" to the deaths of journalists in Russia.
"As we know, there's, since 2000, been a couple dozen suspicious deaths of journalists in Russia who came out against the government there," she said. "Donald Trump has made no secret about going after journalists and his distaste for any news that doesn't agree with him here. Do you find that this is a dangerous path he is heading down?"
Fischer defended Trump, arguing that the president should strive for a better relationship with Putin if possible. Tur shot back at Fischer, leading to a debate over Trump's attitude toward Moscow.