The Trump Administration has been Foxed. In a blistering commentary on the conservative news network, anchor Shep Smith lambasted the administration for “mind-boggling deception” over a June 2016 meeting between Trump son, Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who offered to provide “dirt” on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Smith’s commentary focused less on the meeting and more on the Trump administration’s repeated attempts to lie and obfuscate about why they met, what was said and who was in the room.
Don Jr. gave two separate explanations about the meeting and lied both times before revealing a series of emails that laid out the true reason.
Rob Goldstone, a music publicist, set up the meeting. He told Don Jr. in one of the emails the Russian government was attempting to help his father win the election and had the dirt on Clinton.
“I love it,” Don Jr. wrote back.
The lies didn’t end there. Don Jr. said only then-campaign chair Paul Manafort, and top Trump top adviser Jared Kushner were in the room with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya.
But according to the latest revelations, as many as eight people were in on the meeting, including a former Russian counter-intelligence agent.
The ex-agent has since been identified as Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian-American dual national who works as a lobbyist.
Goldstone also said he was in the room as well as Anatoli Samochornov, a US citizen who has worked for Veselnitskaya as an interpreter.
Akhmetshin confirmed to the Associated Press that the meeting was held to discuss Russian efforts to aid the Trump campaign.
He also said Veselnitskaya had a plastic folder full of printed documents showing the Democratic National Committee had received dirty campaign money form Russian sources.
That was enough for Smith to draw the line. “The deception, Chris, is mind-boggling,’ said Smith speaking to colleague Chris Wallace.
His commentary is significant because Fox News has pushed the envelope on facts to present the Trump administration as favorably as possible on the unfolding Russia scandal and almost all other matters.
Commentators have closely follow right-wing propaganda–and the Trump line–claiming the scandal is “fake news.”
“There are still people who are out there who believe we’re making it up,” Smith continued. And one day they’re gonna realize we’re not and look around and go, ‘Where are we, and why are we getting told all these lies?'”
Smith has been one of the few commentators to take on the administration. In March, he lambasted the president for failing to release his tax returns. Fox viewers went ballistic.
Smith also criticized Trump for failing to provide evidence the lost the popular vote to Clinton because of “massive voter fraud.”
“We’re still not clean on this,” Smith said. “Why all these lies? Why is it lie after lie after lie? If [you’re] clean, come on clean, you know?”
Check out the video below.
Breaking News: @ShepNewsTeam: Eighth person confirmed in @DonaldJTrumpJr meeting pic.twitter.com/Qtjx3Yzl2V
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 14, 2017