RT.com<\/p>\n
Fox News host Tucker Carlson slammed Democratic Congressman David Cicilline, who claimed on Carlson\u2019s show that RT is simply a \u201cRussian propaganda” machine.<\/p>\n
The confrontation starts off as Cicilline says the US should\u00a0\u201chold them [the Russian government] to account and sanction them,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0so that\u00a0\u201cRussia understands that America isn\u2019t going to allow that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ja5eO3KHaWo<\/p>\n Host Tucker Carlson interrupted to ask:\u00a0\u201cNot to allow what exactly?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Cicilline stumbles with his response, repeating instead a familiar refrain among politicians in the United States:\u00a0\u201cRussian RT propaganda\u201d<\/em>\u00a0is to blame.<\/p>\n Carlson continues to press Cicilline:\u00a0\u201cYou said RT is a problem. RT is a cable network. It\u2019s a very left-wing one by the way. I don\u2019t watch it, but\u2026 RT is a part of the American press corps. Do you think we should ban RT? What are you saying exactly?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Cicilline does not give a direct answer, saying instead that\u00a0\u201cthe Russian government, led by Vladimir Putin, engaged in a very sophisticated effort to undermine the election of Hillary Clinton.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n He then dwelled a little on the claim that\u00a0\u201cRT promoted propaganda, fake stories, that were then retweeted on the internet,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0going on to slam the channel as\u00a0\u201cnot a news organization.<\/em>\u201d The lawmaker, though, did not voice any facts to back up his allegations. Fox News\u2019s Carlson seemed to disagree on this, too.<\/p>\n \u201cEd Schultz works there! Larry King works there!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The show\u2019s host then tried to fish out any answer from Cicilline, asking:\u00a0\u201cso should RT be banned if it\u2019s such a problem?\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt’s not a question of should be allowed,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Cicilline says, adding,\u00a0\u201cThey facilitated the release of stolen emails.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0To this, Carlson retorts,\u00a0\u201cWell, so did the New York Times.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Cicilline reluctantly agrees that\u00a0\u201cRussian propaganda can exist, but what we can do is protect our democracy from it,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0prompting the question from Carlson:\u00a0\u2018How, exactly?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe can punish the Russians for what they did,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Cicilline responds.\u00a0\u201cFor having a cable network?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Carlson wonders, also asking what role Larry King, one of RT\u2019s\u00a0\u201clead anchors,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0plays in\u00a0\u201cthe Russian propaganda,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0as put by Cicilline.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no idea. I don\u2019t know about Larry King\u2019s show,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0the senator says.<\/p>\n In the end, both Carlson and Cicilline admit that Russia stories are quite exhausting, but Cicilline points out that\u00a0\u201cYou wanna talk about Russia, because it’s salacious and people watch your show because of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The US has repeatedly accused Russia of hacking and using the data to interfere with the 2016 presidential elections. Yet a few days ago, during his state visit to Poland, US President Donald Trump said that\u00a0\u201cnobody really knows for sure\u201d<\/em>\u00a0if Russia was linked to any of the allegations.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the AP news agency became the latest to retract a claim alleging that all 17 US intelligence agencies confirmed that Russia was behind the hack of Democratic Party emails and tried to swing the election in favor of Republican candidate Trump.<\/p>\n Moscow regularly rejected the allegations: in particular, following the Putin-Trump meeting on the sidelines of the recent G20 summit.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump said that he has heard earlier declarations from Mr. Putin that the Russian leadership and Russian government have not interfered in the elections. And he accepts the things that Mr. Putin said,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0according to Russia\u2019s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.<\/p>\n