'Hillary lost': Tapper shuts down Jack Kingston for shrugging off Don Jr. emails by ranting about Clinton

CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday took on former U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) for equating the bombshell news that Donald Trump Jr. sought compromising information on Hillary Clinton from Russia with an assortment of accusations about the former Democratic candidate.

Asking for Kingston’s reaction to Trump Jr.’s email chain, Tapper noted the emails “look very damning in terms of the willingness of Donald Trump Jr. to meet with somebody billed as being with the Russian government.”

“Everybody knew there were stories about Hillary Clinton and the Russian government, whether it was [John] Podesta serving on a board of a Russian company while advising her in the State Department, whether it was the Clinton Foundation in the uranium swapping or whatever went on there,” Kingston replied in an attempt to downplay the emails. “Everybody knew that stuff like this was going on.”

“Wikipedia, that did not come out because of Trump,” Kingston said.

“Wikileaks,” Tapper corrected the former representative.

Kingston argued there’s “no treason” in Trump Jr.’s exchange. “If somebody comes up to me, and they did repeatedly—I was on the ballot 15 times, people would always come up to you and say, ‘I have something on your opponent’—that is as routine as answering the phone in an election.”

“The people that have promised [opposition research] to you are from Georgia in the United States, not Georgia, Eastern Europe,” Tapper replied.

Kingston tried to iterated “there’s nothing to this meeting,” but Tapper interjected. “How do you know that?” the CNN host asked.

“How do you there was anything at all?” Kingston retorted.

“I don’t,” Tapper said.

Kingston then ranted “about the Ukranian government and Alexandra Chalupa, who was a Clinton aide,” but Tapper once again corrected him.

“She wasn't a Clinton aide,” Tapper said. “She was a consultant to the Democratic National Committee … And Hillary lost. Hillary lost.”

“It doesn't matter,” Kingston replied.

"It does matter because the Chalupa thing is nothing like this,” Tapper said. “Ukranians offering information about what Paul Manafort did in the Ukraine is not the same as this.”

Watch the video below, via CNN: