“The View” co-hosts Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin criticized “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker Tuesday over her interview with a prominent Republican congresswoman.
Behar lamented Welker for not pushing back at Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as she referred to January 6, 2021 Capitol rioters as “hostages” during a Sunday interview.
“What I wish is that the media would take these people on!” Behar said. “You might have talked about this yesterday, but I wasn’t here. I’m watching ‘Meet the Press’ with that annoying Stefanik woman calling these insurrectionists on January 6th, ‘hostages,’ okay, they were there voluntarily, they’re not hostages. And whoever was in that seat…did not say, those are not hostages.”
“That was disappointing because she is an excellent journalist,” Hostin chimed in.
“I mean, come on!” Behar said. “If you don’t confront these people on their lies in the media, we will lose this.”
“She dropped the ball on that interview,” Hostin said. (RELATED: ‘I Misspoke’: Ana Navarro Forced To Correct False Claim About J6 Live On Air)
During the “Meet the Press” interview, Stefanik referred to the Jan. 6 prisoners as “hostages” as she voiced her concerns about the “weaponization of the federal government.”
“I have concerns about the treatment of Jan. 6 hostages,” she said. “We have a rule in Congress of oversight over our treatment of prisoners. And I believe that we’re seeing the weaponization of the federal government against not just President Trump, but we’re seeing it against conservatives,” Stefanik said.
Welker played a snippet of Stefanik denouncing the violence that occurred during the Capitol riot. Stefanik said she “stands by” her remarks and called out NBC News for cutting up the speech.