Fox's Elisabeth Hasselbeck uses Sydney hostage crisis to attack anti-torture liberals

Fox News host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Monday used a hostage crisis at a Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Sydney to lash out at liberals who she said made the CIA into "bad guys" for using torture on detainees.

During Fox & Friends coverage of the hostage standoff, Hasselbeck pivoted to an interview Vice President Dick Cheney had done with NBC News after the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee's torture report.

"Meanwhile, the actual individuals here at home who have been looking into and trying to stop attacks like this, and perhaps future hostage situations -- we are still at war, indeed, with ISIS and terrorism -- are the CIA," she explained. "And have been painted as the bad guys at home."

"You know, former Vice President Dick Cheney actually called out [NBC host] Chuck Todd over the weekend -- yesterday -- for taking cheap shots on the CIA enhanced interrogation report," she opined.

Co-host Brian Kilmeade warned "the worst could be yet to come" because President Barack Obama's administration had planned to release documents from the war in Afghanistan "that would not make us look like the benevolent people like we want to portray ourselves."

"Seriously, you see what's happening in a chocolate shop in Australia today right now -- in a chocolate shop!" Hasselbeck exclaimed. "And you understand the real war with ISIS that we are in. In stark contrast with accusations [against] the CIA really just trying to do their job and keep America safe for the past 13 years."

"It startles you," she added.

Watch the video below from Fox News' Fox & Friends, broadcast Dec. 15, 2014.

(h/t: Media Matters)