MSNBC found itself in an embarrassing predicament Tuesday night after hosts Stephanie Ruhle and Jonathan Capehart were forced to issue on-air corrections following their false claims about U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and President Donald Trump.
During Monday’s broadcast, Ruhle falsely stated that Gabbard had described Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “very good friends.” Capehart later repeated the misinformation, attributing the fabricated quote to an interview Gabbard allegedly gave.
However, the claim quickly fell apart after the full interview surfaced, revealing that Gabbard was actually referring to Trump’s relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi—not Putin.
MSNBC Spreads False Narrative on Trump and Putin
On Monday night’s episode of The 11th Hour, Stephanie Ruhle confidently misreported that Gabbard had linked Trump and Putin in a close friendship. She used the claim to question Trump’s connection to the American public and reinforce a common left-wing narrative about Trump’s alleged ties to Russia.
“Just today, Tulsi Gabbard said that Putin and Trump are quote ‘very good friends,’” Ruhle falsely stated.
Her guest, New York Times congressional reporter Luke Broadwater, accepted the claim without question, further pushing the idea that Trump and Putin were aligned in ideology and victimhood.
“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 responded.
Later in the evening, Jonathan Capehart echoed the false claim on his show, citing an interview Gabbard allegedly gave. His guest, former Obama official Michael McFaul, reacted with alarm, calling Gabbard’s supposed remarks “very dangerous” in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Fact-Check Exposes MSNBC’s Blunder
However, the narrative quickly unraveled when the full transcript of Gabbard’s interview surfaced. It became clear that she had never mentioned Putin in the way Capehart and Ruhle suggested. Instead, she had been discussing Trump’s relationship with Modi, the leader of India, a key U.S. ally.
Despite MSNBC’s attempts to frame the story, independent fact-checkers, social media users, and conservative media outlets swiftly exposed the misinformation.
By Tuesday night, MSNBC was forced to backtrack.
Ruhle and Capehart Issue Reluctant Corrections
On Tuesday night’s broadcast, Ruhle made a brief and reluctant correction, walking back her previous statement.
“Last night we reported on excerpts of an interview between 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,” Ruhle admitted.
Capehart also issued a similar correction, but by then, the false claim had already gone viral across left-wing media outlets and social media.
Associated Press Forced to Retract Story
The fallout from MSNBC’s mistake extended beyond the network. The Associated Press (AP) had also published a March 17 article repeating the debunked claim, asserting that Gabbard’s comments aligned with Trump’s alleged pro-Russia stance.
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.”
The damage had already been done, as major news organizations had already spread the misinformation, reinforcing a false narrative about Trump and Russia.
White House Communications Staffer Slams ‘Maliciously Incompetent’ Media
Following the correction, White House communications staffer Alexa Henning took to X (formerly Twitter) to slam the media’s recklessness in spreading false information.
“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.”
Henning’s criticism echoed longstanding concerns from conservatives who argue that mainstream media frequently pushes misleading stories to attack Trump and his allies.
MSNBC’s History of False Reporting on Trump
This is not the first time MSNBC has been forced to walk back false claims about Trump. The network has a long history of pushing Russia-related hoaxes, including the now disproven Steele dossier and debunked Trump-Russia collusion theories.
The latest Gabbard-Trump-Putin blunder adds another black mark to MSNBC’s credibility as critics argue that the network prioritizes pushing a political agenda over accurate reporting.
With trust in the media at an all-time low, MSNBC’s latest mistake only reinforces why millions of Americans have turned to alternative news sources for information.