The biggest political story in 2017 has been the hacking of the 2016 election by Russia and what role Donald Trump might have played in the cyber attack. As supporters of the president stick by his side, one got into a tough exchange on MSNBC.

MSNBC on Russia

During the 2016 presidential election, speculation increased over whether or not Donald Trump was in cahoots with Russia. From not releasing his tax returns to refusing to criticize Vladimir Putin, the former host of "The Apprentice" was forced to deny the growing allegations against him. Following his surprise win over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, various well-respected news outlets and government agencies concluded that Russia hacked the election with the goal of helping to elect Trump.

Since then, an investigation has been put in place to get to the bottom of the truth of what went down, with various past and present associates of the president being indicted. With special counsel Robert Mueller pushing forward, Trump has made a point to dismiss the investigation as a "witch hunt." These issues and more were addressed during the December 19 edition of "Deadline: White House" on MSNBC.

Joining MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday night, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took part in a lengthy interview which touched on Donald Trump's recent criticism of the FBI as well as the investigation in question.

After playing a clip of Fox News suggesting the FBI was attempting a "coup" to overthrow the president, Wallace stated, "We have Chris Christie, who will answer the question as to whether or not we are witnessing a coup."

(Part 1 of the full interview in the above video.)

"No," Chris Christie replied, to which he said a second time after Nicolle Wallace repeated the question.

"If you’re innocent of collusion, why would you malign attacks that would have the affect of alienating a special counsel that could exonerate you?" Wallace wondered. Christie attempted to deflect from the situation at hand by bringing up the Bill Clinton impeachment case and putting blame on Democrats. "I don't remember any Democrats calling the FBI the KGB," Wallace said.

(Part 2 of the full interview in the video above.)

"There is an ongoing smear campaign against the FBI," Nicolle Wallace went on to say. The MSNBC host continued to grill the New Jersey governor about why the president and his team have attacked the FBI if they are innocent, with Chris Christie doing his best to smooth things over for the administration. "It’s really bad, it’s really sad," Wallace pointed out.

Next step

While Donald Trump waits for the results of the Russian investigation, the majority of Americans are no tin his corner on the issue. According to a recently released poll by the Associated Press-NORC, 63 percent of Americans think Trump tried to "obstruct or impede" the investigation, with another 40 percent believing that the president took part in "illegal" actions with Russia.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED