Keilar Presses, Tribe Excessive, NYT Misses, Reporter Impresses

CNN co-host Brianna Keilar pressed Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer on Tuesday on why the administration has been reluctant to call Russia's troop movement into Ukraine an "invasion."

Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the Donbas and Luhansk regions of Eastern Ukraine as independent on Monday, and Russian troops entered the Donbas promptly.

On New Day, Keilar asked Finer if the Biden administration views what has happened as “an invasion.”

“Look, Brianna, we think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,” said Finer. That "beginning of" qualifier wasn't quite the "yes" Finer wanted it to pass for, and Keilar wasn't going to let it slip past.

Finer continued, bringing up Germany's decision to stop certification of the pipeline and President Joe Biden's coming sanctions on the two regions, and then Keilar looked for clarification.

“So you called this the 'beginning' of the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine,” she said. “Is that different than an invasion?”

“I think latest is important here. An invasion is an invasion and that is what is under way. But Russia has been invading Ukraine since 2014,” said Finer, again qualifying his description.

“Why not call it an invasion,” asked Keilar. “Just call it an invasion instead of this talking point of the beginning of the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine?”

“I don’t know how much more clear I can be, Brianna,” said Finer. “This is the beginning of an invasion.”

“Okay. You could just call it an invasion,” Keilar fired back. She then played clips of administration officials defining what would constitute an invasion and asked again "Why not just call it an invasion?"

“I mean, again, I guess for the third or fourth time, I am calling it an invasion,” Finer finally relented.

See, that's how you do that.

Law professor and political commentator Laurence Tribe deleted an eyebrow-raising tweet Monday which suggested that Fox News host Tucker Carlson's opinions on Russian aggression in Ukraine could be prosecutable “treason.”

On Monday, the Harvard Law professor emeritus posted a tweet warning of a Carlson-led effort on behalf of the Trump wing of the Republican Party to back Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine crisis.

“If Putin opts to wage war on our ally, Ukraine, such ‘aid and comfort’ to an ‘enemy’ would appear to become ‘treason’ as defined by Article III of the U.S. Constitution,” Tribe said in a tweet that has since been deleted.

Carlson has questioned U.S. support for Ukraine as Russia amassed troops on its border in recent weeks, in what the U.S. government says is the preparation for an invasion. The Fox News host has mocked those calling him a stooge for Russia.

While Carlson has been criticized by even Republican lawmakers for his defenses of Russia, Tribe’s suggesting he committed treason by merely criticizing U.S. foreign policy drew countless objections from experts and observers from all corners of the political spectrum.

“This is completely false,” said conservative writer and lawyer David French. “Constitutional text, history, and precedent say this is false. It’s not even in the same ballpark as the truth.”

“Please stop, Sir,” implored national security lawyer Bradley Moss.

Eventually, Tribe dialed back his comments by offering a clarification that since the U.S. is not currently at war with Russia, he was not speaking literally and “treason prosecutions should be off the table.”

The clarification was eventually deleted, along with the original post.

There are few fails that sting more than those which result in your own tribe turning on you. And then having to back down. Ouch.