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Chris Cuomo Masterfully Shuts Down Republican Spewing Ukraine Conspiracy Theory With Cold Hard Facts
During last month's impeachment hearings, career diplomat Fiona Hill reminded lawmakers that claims of Ukraine coordinating with the Democratic National Committee in order to frame Russia for meddling in the 2016 election are conspiracy theories put forth by Russia itself.
Nevertheless, President Donald Trump's more ardent supporters in Congress are perpetuating the theory to justify Trump asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Crowdstrike, the cybersecurity company that investigated the DNC's servers after they were hacked by Russia.
The latest to repeat this conspiracy theory was Congressman Randy Weber (R-TX), who appeared on Chris Cuomo's CNN show Monday night.
Weber tried to get Cuomo to confirm that Crowdstrike is owned by a Ukrainian (it's not), and Cuomo instead took him to task with a slew of facts that are inconvenient if you are a Republican Trump shill.
Watch below.
REP. RANDY WEBER (R): Is CrowdStrike in part owned by a Ukrainian? CHRIS CUOMO: No! WEBER: ... ... really? CUOMO… https://t.co/sz6qyMlgbA— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar)1575340916.0
Cuomo not only answered in the affirmative, but pointed out everything wrong with Weber's so-called point:
"You have bad information! The man is American-born of Russian descent. He's not Ukrainian and even if he were, that's what you're gonna hang it on? Your head of national security, Tom Bossert, said that that was a joke. You heard testimony from experts saying it's a joke. The intel community says it's not true. Mueller said it's not true. Burr said it's not true."
A windless-sailed Weber tried to pivot by calling for the whereabouts of the DNC server before Cuomo rightly reminded him that it doesn't exist. All information was turned over to Crowdstrike and the FBI in the form of digital snapshots. There is no physical server out there that somehow confirms that Ukrainians coordinated with the DNC.
People were with Cuomo in pointing out the absurdity of Weber's statement.
Dear Rep @TXRandy14: Let's look at some more facts about Crowdstrike conspiracy theory. Emails stolen from DNC serv… https://t.co/FcHFhyvmYH— Ted Lieu (@Ted Lieu)1575381432.0
Even if CrowdStrike were owned by a Ukrainian (it’s not) Even if DNC server were in Ukraine (it isn’t) Even if Tr… https://t.co/ZZdKLDTsVZ— Eric Columbus (@Eric Columbus)1575342279.0
Polluting the information battle space is Moscow’s priority #1. No need to push RU intelligence narratives out via… https://t.co/1OsmXKxiwe— Aki Peritz (@Aki Peritz)1575342735.0
Absolutely shameful—Representative Randy Weber @TXRandy14)—repeating outright falsehood that’s a Russian propaganda… https://t.co/KBmsIPuxfP— Ryan Goodman (@Ryan Goodman)1575343501.0
For the love of God @TXRandy14 get one briefing on the issue before you go on TV and humiliate yourself like this. https://t.co/cLNhwnfLds— Tommy Vietor (@Tommy Vietor)1575341703.0
People were impressed with Cuomo.
Credit to @ChrisCuomo for this. Had the facts at his fingertips, and rightly and repeatedly interrupted to call out… https://t.co/4dwMc2ff3M— Mehdi Hasan (@Mehdi Hasan)1575344208.0
The misinformation on this is astounding. Thankfully we have @chriscuomo standing up with the facts. Crowdstrike w… https://t.co/umFvMXBP4w— Vicky Ward (@Vicky Ward)1575344872.0
This is how you handle a guest who lies. Shut them down, immediately and permanently. And then, critically, never… https://t.co/k913YAtL6D— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@Patrick S. Tomlinson)1575342100.0
Despite fact checks and on-air humiliation, it doesn't seem like Republicans in Congress will give up this theory any time soon.