MSNBC Hosts Forced Into Correcting Their Fake News [WATCH]

MSNBC hosts Stephanie Ruhle and Jonathan Capehart were forced to issue corrections on air Tuesday night after spreading false claims about U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and President Donald Trump.

During Monday’s broadcasts, Ruhle and Capehart both incorrectly stated that Gabbard had described Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “very good friends.”

The claim was later proven false when the full transcript of Gabbard’s interview surfaced, showing that she had actually been referring to Trump’s relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not Putin.

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On The 11th Hour, Ruhle had confidently reported, “Just today, Tulsi Gabbard said that Putin and Trump are quote ‘very good friends.’”

New York Times congressional reporter Luke Broadwater, who was a guest on the segment, accepted the claim without question and used it to reinforce the narrative that Trump and Putin were aligned.

“Trump’s view of the world, the two of them are sort of bound together as allies, which you know flies in the face of decades and decades of American foreign policy,” Broadwater said.

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Capehart later repeated the same claim on his show, asserting that Gabbard had described Trump and Putin’s relationship as a shared mission.

His guest, former Obama administration official Michael McFaul, responded with alarm, calling Gabbard’s supposed remarks “very dangerous.”

“If Putin is allowed to annex territory in Ukraine, that’s setting a very dangerous precedent not just in Europe, but in Asia and around the world,” McFaul added.

However, by Tuesday, MSNBC was forced to correct the misinformation after the full transcript of Gabbard’s interview was reviewed. It became clear that she had never mentioned Putin in the context Ruhle and Capehart had claimed.

Ruhle issued a brief correction on air, acknowledging the mistake:

“Last night we reported on excerpts of an interview between the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and an Indian TV news network in which she said that Trump was good friends with a world leader. We said that world leader was Vladimir Putin, but the full interview shows that Gabbard was referring to Trump and Indian Prime Minister Modi.”

Capehart also issued a clarification, but by then, the false claim had already spread across social media and other media outlets.

The Associated Press was also forced to retract its reporting on the matter.

AP reporter David Klepper had initially published an article on March 17 repeating the debunked claim, asserting that Gabbard’s comments aligned with what he described as Trump’s pro-Russia stance.

After facing widespread criticism, the AP issued a correction:

“Eds: This story was updated on Mar. 17, 2025, to delete erroneous reporting that U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘are very good friends.’ Gabbard was talking about Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

The backlash prompted a response from the White House.

Communications staffer Alexa Henning criticized the media’s handling of the situation, posting on X, “This is why no one trusts the maliciously incompetent and purposefully biased media. If this isn’t a clear example of pushing a solely political narrative, then nothing is.”

The @AP is total trash. DNI @TulsiGabbard was referring to PM Modi & President Trump and this is the headline they publish.

This is why no one trusts the maliciously incompetent and purposefully bias media. If this isn’t a clear example of pushing a solely political narrative,… pic.twitter.com/1chFZQqTEd

— Alexa Henning (@alexahenning) March 18, 2025

The correction marked yet another instance of mainstream media rushing to push a narrative without verifying the facts, reinforcing concerns about bias and misinformation.

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