Tucker Carlson pressed Democratic Senator Joe Manchin on Tuesday about whether the various controversies related to President Donald Trump and Russia were more important than more local issues in West Virginia.

“I’m not saying that the Russia question should be ignored,” Carlson said on his Fox News program. He soon added, “But is it more important than the stated goals of the administration on — I don’t know, the opioid crisis in your state or persistent unemployment?”

Manchin interjected, “All of these things important.” The Fox News host retorted, “Right, okay! So Russia seems like the most important, by far, to the Democratic Party right now.”

Earlier in the segment, Carlson acknowledged that “this is shutting down our government. And I think the Trump administration is partly at fault. I think the President’s Tweets are totally counterproductive, and there are lots of things you could say about his conduct that are unflattering.”

However, he continued by playing up that “Democrats in Congress have basically ground everything to a halt because of this Russia question. And I just wonder if voters are in favor of that — like your voters. Do they really think this is more important than bringing coal jobs back?”

The West Virginia senator countered, in part, that “if you want to see a halt, I’ll say this: it was ground to a halt under the Obama administration basically because of Mitch [McConnell] having the power to ground it to a halt. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and I’m the first to tell you that. I didn’t like what happened the last eight years…and now what’s happening today.”

You can watch Tucker Carlson’s full interview of Joe Manchin above, via Fox News.

[image via screengrab]

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