Donald Trump at a rally, photo by Gage Skidmore.
In a Sunday evening panel discussion, MSNBC commentators explained that the White House appears to be just as chaotic and marred by chaos as the rumors say.
Many in the White House learned that the president's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was working overseas in Ukraine. Giuliani claimed that he's been producing a film that he couldn't get Fox News to run, as it will appear on the fringe network OAN.
"What Rudy Giuliani is doing is using Kremlin-manufactured propaganda as a defensive shield for the president," said CNBC's John Harwood. "Fiona Hill was unambiguous in her testimony to the intelligence committee. What Rudy Giuliani has been doing with these two indicted men who are linked to a Russian oligarch who is tied to Russian organized crime, is trying to manufacture a story that Ukraine, rather than Russia or in addition to Russia or differently from Russia, meddle in the campaign. That is false."
He specifically named Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Kennedy (R-LA), who both have taken up the Kremlin talking points to help defend accusations against Russia and the U.S. president.
New York Times columnist Bret Stephens said that it further indicates that the administration is just as disorganized as rumors say.
"The overall picture for me is that the administration, internally, is as incompetent, shambolic, paranoid, and given to conspiracy theories as it appears to be from the outside," he said."I think that's really the striking feature."
While Secretary Mike Pompeo may be the confirmed head of the State Department, it appears Trump has assigned Giuliani to conduct foreign policy in secret.
"We have an administration that believes in conspiracy theories that are clearly manufactured or serve the interests of Russia," Stephens continued. "And a Republican Party that gets behind what it would've opposed if a Democratic administration had been behaving in exactly the same way."
Watch the full discussion below:
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