MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle and Ali Velshi were forced to issue on-air corrections Tuesday after erroneously reporting that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had described President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “very good friends.”
Both news anchors clarified during their respective shows that Gabbard was actually referring to Trump’s relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not Putin, in her interview with an Indian television network.
“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 [Narendra] Modi. Cleared that up,” Ruhle said Tuesday during her MSNBC show.
Velshi, who was filling in for Lawrence O’Donnell on “The Last Word,” made a similar correction. “Now, we said that world leader was Vladimir Putin, but the full interview was subsequently released, and it showed that Gabbard was referring to Donald Trump and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi,” Velshi stated during the broadcast. (
The Associated Press also published and subsequently retracted a similar story with a misleading headline. The news agency acknowledged the error, removed the original story, and published a corrected version with an editor’s note to maintain transparency.
The misreporting stemmed from Gabbard’s recent interview with an Indian news network where she discussed Trump’s relationship with world leaders. In the interview, Gabbard praised Trump’s relationship with Modi, stating the two leaders are “very good friends” who are focused on strengthening shared objectives and interests between the United States and India.
Gabbard also discussed Trump’s upcoming call with Putin, saying the President was “looking forward to success” ahead of the scheduled conversation, but did not characterize their relationship as a friendship. She criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine war, suggesting that under the previous Trump administration, there was an “unwavering commitment to peace” and more progress towards ending the conflict.
The day before issuing the correction, Ruhle had criticized Gabbard for being “disconnected with the majority of Americans” based on the misreported comments. Similarly, during “The Last Word” on Monday, guest host Jonathan Capehart referenced the erroneous report in a question to Michael McFaul, an MSNBC international affairs analyst, asking: “Gabbard is saying out loud that U.S. and Russia relations are a shared mission. How dangerous is that?”
Alexa Henning, Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff, responded forcefully to the Associated Press headline on social media platform X.
“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 [sic] media. If this isn’t a clear example of pushing a solely political narrative, then nothing is,” Henning wrote.
This incident occurs amid ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and mainstream media outlets. Lawrence O’Donnell, the regular host of “The Last Word,” announced last Thursday that he needed to take a week off from hosting his program, citing exhaustion over covering Trump’s presidency.
The misreporting about Gabbard’s comments also takes place as the Trump administration is navigating complex relationships with both Russia and Ukraine. According to reports, Trump and Vice President JD Vance recently had a contentious meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Trump also had a phone call with Putin to discuss a partial ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, an issue that has been at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy discussions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
The full context of Gabbard’s interview shows her discussing how Trump and Modi are engaged in high-level discussions on shared interests and diplomatic initiatives, emphasizing bilateral cooperation between the United States and India rather than making claims about Trump’s relationship with Putin.
