'Tells us a lot': MSNBC hosts pounce on John Thune for 'revealing' answer to reporter
Any question over how Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will assert his independence from Donald Trump was put to rest on Tuesday when he fled into an elevator to avoid questions about the president's pardon of violent Jan. 6 criminals and offered a glib final response.
That was the opinion of members of an MSNBC panel on Wednesday morning, with two commentators calling his final answer "revealing."
After sharing clips of multiple GOP lawmakers being collared in the halls of Congress and pressed on Trump's blanket pardon of almost every Jan. rioter –– including ones the conservative Wall Street Journal labeled "cop beaters" –– footage of Thune was shown being escorted by a phalanx of aides.
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Asked, "Senator, are you comfortable with the pardons for Jan. 6 offenders?" to which he replied, "Look guys. As I've said before, um, we're looking forward to the next four years, not the last four years."
"What messages does this send to police officers who were there that day?" one reporter asked while another interjected, "What about the officers who were attacked?"
Hiding behind his aides at the back of the elevator, Thune replied with a smirk, "Would you guys ask the same questions of Biden?"
That led "Morning Joe co-host Mike Brzezinski to note, "The outcome couldn't be a starker. The contrast there between who President Biden pardoned, those who defended the capitol and those who investigated the attacks, versus President Trump, who is now pardoned, those who committed these attacks."
Co-host Willie Geist added, "Majority Leader John Thune, I thought, was very revealing. A guy who's very well respected, well-liked, a decent man who just answered the very easy question should people who beat up cops be released from prison? He said, would you ask Biden the same question about pardons? It feels like Donald Trump gave these Republicans a pretty easy test right out of the gate."
"I mean, the way that Senator Thune answered that question, I think tells us a lot about where the House, the Senate Republican Conference is writ large," MSNBC host Ali Vitali offered.
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