Lesley Stahl’s interview of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA., on “60 Minutes” touched off a fierce media debate Monday, as some figures called the interview “garbage” while others defended it and pointed out more controversial figures it had interviewed in the past.
During MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” the panel defended Stahl and her interview with the Republican lawmaker that aired Sunday on CBS.
Co-host Joe Scarborough said “60 Minutes” interviewed Charles Manson and that if it interviewed him, a congresswoman was hardly a bridge too far.
“’60 Minutes’ has interviewed one terrible person after another terrible person, and so if they interview Charles Manson, they can interview a member of Congress… If you want to watch, you can watch and actually understand some of the craziness that has infected the Republican Party, and that just may be good to understand what American democracy is up against,” he said.
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Co-host Mika Brzezinski said she took issue with a lot of the criticism of Stahl on Twitter and said she doesn’t understand what she did wrong.
“I think it’s important. This is what they do at ‘60 Minutes.’ They bring, you know, a person like this, or a foreign leader. They go into situations where they ask the questions and show their viewers what they’re dealing with, and I think she did an exceptional job, as usual,” she said. “We do need to cover these people, we need to show all sides of the story… I don’t understand what she did wrong.”
Semafor’s Ben Smith told CNN on Monday that he couldn’t fault “60 Minutes” for interviewing Greene because they had interviewed “rapists” and “hit men” in the past. Later in the discussion, host Kaitlan Collins followed up on his statement and asked, “just to be clear, you’re not putting her in that group.”
“Thanks for letting me clear that up, Kaitlan. I’m just saying they’ve interviewed people far more controversial,” he said.
Smith confirmed via text message he was not comparing Greene to those figures, but rather saying that it made complete sense for “60 Minutes” to talk to a significant member of Congress. During the interview, he said that Greene’s appearance on such a prominent program essentially confirmed her wing of the party had major influence and couldn’t be ignored by the media.
But others weren’t as kind.
“I respect Lesley Stahl and 60 Minutes but airing this is garbage,” former CNN reporter John Harwood tweeted on Monday.
Greene called the Democratic Party the “party of pedophiles” during the interview, which left Stahl stunned as she was seen rolling her eyes.
“They are not pedophiles. Why would you say that?” asked.
“Even Joe Biden, the president himself, supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries. Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children,” Greene responded.
MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan also appeared frustrated with Stahl’s interview and said she should have bought his new book.
“I have been on a month-long book tour, pushing the importance of tougher interviews & need for follow-up Qs. I had a piece in The Atlantic on how to deal with Gish Galloping by bad faith interviewees. And then… Leslie [sic] Stahl goes & does *that* interview with MTG. Kill. Me. Now,” Hasan tweeted.
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The co-hosts of “The View” were also critical of “60 Minutes” and Stahl on Monday.
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Co-host Sunny Hostin said she wished Stahl pushed back more on Greene.
“I don’t have a problem with her having that platform because I thought she looked like an idiot,” Hostin said. “I hate to do this because I think Lesley Stahl is such a great journalist. I wanted statistics and pushbacks. ‘Well, why do you say that? Who have you heard say that? What about this statistic? What about that?'”
“You know Lesley always got a book full of receipts, where were they? Where were the receipts? And they weren’t anywhere! It was very frustrating,” she continued.
Before the interview even aired, many media figures were outraged at the idea that “60 Minutes” would give her a platform.
CNN commentator Adam Kinzinger tweeted, “wow” in response to a preview of the interview and said it was “insane that 60 min would do this.”
Fox News Digital’s Jeffrey Clark and Gabriel Hayes contributed to this report.
