Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) on Sunday got into a testy exchange with MSNBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd when grilled on the GOP’s embrace of the big lie, following the House GOP’s vote to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) as the No. 3 Republican for refusing to buy into former President Trump’s election fraud falsehoods.
After defending House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) false suggestion that his caucus is done pushing the bogus claims of election fraud that led to Cheney’s ouster as its conference chair, Todd took Crenshaw to task by asking about the GOP congressman’s record of refusing to accept that a free and fair election was held in November.
Todd pointed out that the GOP congressman signed onto Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s (R) unsuccessful lawsuit that sought to overturn election results in several key battleground states.
Crenshaw’s feathers were ruffled.
“You guys in the press painted that as some extreme action. Of course, it wasn’t,” Crenshaw said. “That amicus brief was a simple question of the Supreme Court in saying, ‘can you please speak to this question of whether process changes in the election last minute, not approved by the legislature can be deemed constitutional?’ It was a question. They didn’t want to answer that question.”
Crenshaw added that he voted to certify the Joe Biden’s electoral victory, which happened hours after the deadly Capitol insurrection that former President Trump incited.
When Todd took Crenshaw to task by pointing out that the Texas attorney general’s lawsuit that he signed on to was weaponized by Trump, the GOP congressman insisted that it’s “time to move on” from the big lie that led to the breaching of the Capitol.
“[Trump is] one of many leaders in the party. He’s a former president. We’re five month into president Biden’s presidency. There is a time to move on,” Crenshaw said.
A testy exchange between Todd and Crenshaw ensued when the GOP congressman griped about the media calling out Trump’s bogus claims of a stolen election.
“You guys in the press love doing this, and I get it, right, that the press is largely liberal, they’re largely pro-Democrat,” Crenshaw said, prompting Todd to hit back.
“No, no, no. Don’t start that,” Todd said. “There’s nothing lazier than that excuse.”
Crenshaw then accused Todd of attempting to make him “take the bait.”
Todd wasn’t having it.
“I’m not trying to bait you. I’m try to figure out why do we sit here and have a political party that is basically rallying around this bizarre lie and mythology that the former president is doing,” Todd said. “You guys want to say, ‘hey, pay no attention to this, that we in the press are bringing it up.’ It’s the former president.”
Watch the exchange below:
Dan Crenshaw doesn't like Chuck Todd bringing up the fact that he signed onto the Texas lawsuit to toss out swing state votes, then says "you guys in the press" like doing this because they're "largely liberal."
Todd: "Don’t start that. There’s nothing lazier than that excuse." pic.twitter.com/FGRS7tF8UL
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) May 16, 2021
