MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews said Susan Rice did nothing wrong and suggested critics of former President Barack Obama’s national security adviser are sexist.

“Susan Rice’s job is to watch national security,” Mr. Matthews said Tuesday on “Hardball.” “As she told Andrea today, our colleague, she made it very clear what she was doing was when she saw an American name show up in a surveillance of a foreign perhaps agent, she wanted to know who that was. What’s wrong with that?”

After panelist Simon Marks remarked conservatives were “looking for a piñata” to beat up, Mr. Matthews quipped: “Notice it’s always a female? Just a thought.”

Ms. Rice reportedly requested the “unmasking” of Trump campaign associates who were caught up in the surveillance of foreign targets during the transition period.

Later in the show, MSNBC political analyst David Corn accused Republicans of “defaming” Ms. Rice “because she’s a woman.”

“Maybe because she’s a black woman,” said Mr. Corn, the D.C. bureau chief at Mother Jones.

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