Thursday during MSNBC’s coverage of former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, “Hardball” host Chris Matthews said in Comey’s testimony accusations that President Donald Trump directly colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election “came apart.”

Matthews said, “I think the headlines in terms of wire service coverage he called the president a liar. I think that’s a headline. The reason he memorialized everything, he thought the president would lie about it. He also said I’d like to see any tapes played. If there are any White House tapes, he wants them played. The bigger story, Nicole touched on it there, the assumption of the critics of the president, of his pursuers, you might say, is that somewhere along the line in the last year is the president had something to do with colluding with the Russians, to feeding their desire to affect the election in some way. Some role they played, some conversation with Michael Flynn or Paul Manafort. But yet what came apart was that theory. ”

He continued, “Two regards, the president said according to the written tell me of Mr. Comey go ahead and give anybody satellite to my operation and nail them. I’m with you on that, that would mean Manafort, Carter Page, somebody like that. And then what was fascinating, Comey basically said that Flynn wasn’t central to the Russia investigation, that he was touching on it. Of course, Flynn wasn’t honest in the answering of the official forms to become national security head, but they only touched on that. It wasn’t related to that but that he could be flipped for that. In other words, they could flip him because they had him on something he dishonestly answered but it wasn’t central to the Russia thing. I always assumed what Trump was afraid of he had said something to Flynn and Flynn could be flipped on that, and Flynn would testify against the president that he had some conversation with Flynn in terms of dealing with the Russians affirmatively. And if that’s not the case, where’s the there-there? If it isn’t Manafort because he wants to throw him under the bus. Where is the concern that Trump has that has put him on defense for these months?”

(h/t Washington Examiner)