MSNBC host Chris Matthews came to the apparent defense of Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg while interviewing rival Elizabeth Warren about her criticism of Bloomberg and his company’s handling of allegations of sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. Matthews’ line of questioning is troubling considering MSNBC’s parent company NBCUniversal has been embroiled in a years-long scandal regarding cultivating a toxic culture of sexual harassment and misconduct, including its use of NDAs to silence women who had come forward with stories of abuse.

In the debate itself Tuesday night, Warren had repeated a report that Bloomberg had mistreated a pregnant employee. During the network’s post-debate spin room coverage, Matthews asked: Why would Bloomberg lie about it?

The pregnant employee sued Bloomberg in 1998, saying he had told her upon learning of her pregnancy to “kill it” and also expressed in frustration, “Great, number 16,” an apparent reference to the number of women employees who were either pregnant or had newborn children at the time.

This past month, The Washington Post interviewed a former Bloomberg company employee, David Zielenziger, who told the paper that he had witnessed the conversation but had not previously spoken publicly about it. The paper also noted that Bloomberg has denied the allegation and that the case was resolved through a confidential settlement.

Matthews repeatedly asked Warren such questions as “You believe he's that kind of person who did that?” and “You believe he’s lying?”

Warren answered each time that she believed the woman in the case, and she also registered her own protest: “We have gone on and on and on, where people say, ‘Oh, I can't really believe the woman.’ Really? Why not?”