Things got testy on Friday on the Fox News show “Outnumbered,” as panelists got into a spat over the topic of former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s trial and current treatment.
Manafort faces 18 charges — including filing false tax returns and failing to report overseas bank accounts — in his first federal trial as a result of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the November 2016 elections.
David Bossie (shown above, center), a former deputy campaign manager for Donald Trump and current outside adviser to the president, said on the show that Manafort is in solitary confinement while “terrorists” are allowed to walk free, Mediaite reported.
Bossie is back as a contributor on the network after a forced hiatus; he was suspended for two weeks in June for using the term “cotton-picking” when arguing on air with an African-American Democratic strategist.
“Outnumbered” guest panelist Jessica Tarlov (above, second from right), who serves as Bustle’s head of research, pushed back hard.
“Terrorists, that’s awful, they should not be treated well … [But] the defensive position that … you have entered into this conversation [with], we have all acknowledged on this couch that this is not about bringing down Donald Trump,” she said. “This is about someone who has allegedly broken U.S. laws repeatedly and for decades. Who Harris [Faulkner] said is a bad actor and people who are working with enemies of the U.S. and Russia and in the Ukraine.”
“Your posture is so aggressive,” she also said to Bossie.
Bossie attempted to defend his premise. “What I’m dealing with is the mainstream media’s lies every single day, that this is the Russia probe, this is the collusion investigation,” Bossie replied.
He then tried to clarify his train of thought.
“The New Mexico case, where you have these five potential terrorists with a three-year-old dead [child] found there, [and] training 11 other children to be school shooters at a time when we are getting our kids back to school, it’s outrageous,” he said after a bit of back and forth with those on the couch.
“This is a problem with their bail system. This is a problem with our federal courts.”
Related: ‘Not Rocket Science’ to Hold Manafort Outside Solitary Confinement, Mukasey Says
“But we can have that conversation — that’s such utter whataboutism,” Tarlov protested.
Watch the blow-up below:
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