WATCH: Anti-Trump MSNBC Hosts Forced To Issue Correction After Trump Hoax Is Debunked
MSNBC found itself in an embarrassing position Tuesday night after hosts Stephanie Ruhle and Jonathan Capehart were forced to issue corrections on air following their false claims about U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and President Donald Trump.
During Monday’s broadcast, Ruhle falsely claimed that Gabbard described Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “very good friends.” Capehart repeated the misinformation later in the evening, attributing the fabricated statement to an interview Gabbard allegedly gave.
However, the claim quickly unraveled when the full interview surfaced, revealing that Gabbard was actually referring to Trump’s relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi—not Putin. On Monday night, Ruhle confidently stated on The 11th Hour that Gabbard had linked Trump and Putin in a close friendship, questioning how disconnected Trump was from the American public.
“Just today, Tulsi Gabbard said that Putin and Trump are quote ‘very good friends,’” Rhule reported.
Her guest, New York Times congressional reporter Luke Broadwater, then took the claim at face value, reinforcing the idea that Trump and Putin were allied in victimhood and completely out of step with American values.
“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 echoed the same false narrative on his show, citing an interview in which Gabbard allegedly described Trump and Putin’s relationship as a shared mission. His guest, Michael McFaul, a former Obama official, reacted 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.
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However, by the next day, the network was forced to walk back the claim when the full transcript of Gabbard’s interview surfaced. It became clear that she had never mentioned Putin in the context Capehart and Ruhle suggested.
On Tuesday night, Ruhle made a brief, reluctant correction:
“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,” Rhule admitted.
Capehart also issued a clarification, but by then, the misinformation had already spread across social media and left-wing media outlets.
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The Associated Press was forced to retract its reporting on the false claim. AP reporter David Klepper had initially published an article on March 17 repeating the debunked assertion, claiming that Gabbard’s comments aligned with Trump’s supposed pro-Russia stance.
However, after widespread backlash, the AP issued a correction, admitting its mistake.
“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.”
White House communications staffer Alexa Henning slammed the AP’s blunder, posting on X (formerly Twitter): “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
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