MSNBC cut away early Monday from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's presentation on what he called proof of Iran's deceit regarding the nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration.
Netanyahu, speaking with visual aids and citing newly obtained documents from Tehran, laid out what he called proof of Iran "brazenly lying" when it claims to have never had a nuclear weapons program.
Israel obtained the intelligence on Iran's clandestine pursuit of nuclear weapons in the past 10 days, according to reports.
The Israeli prime minister began his presentation around 1:10 p.m. EST. CNN and Fox News carried his remarks live, while the progressive-leaning MSNBC cut in nearly four minutes after he started. While Netanyahu wound up speaking for nearly 18 minutes total in English, MSNBC stuck with Netanyahu's remarks for about six minutes before cutting away for host Chris Jansing to speak to former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns.
"I think we ought to stay in. All the evidence so far from the IAEA is that Iran is complying with this deal," Burns said. "It makes sense to the United States to stay in. Our national interests would be advanced by that."
MSNBC went to commercial after Burns spoke and aired a segment on progressive primary wars in 2018 when it returned. Meanwhile, Netanyahu was still speaking.
The Trump administration is considering pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal as a May 12 deadline approaches on whether to reinstate previously lifted sanctions against the Iranian regime.