Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) says the right-leaning news network Newsmax cut an entire segment of his interview with them yesterday evening. The Utah Republican claims the unaired segment of his interview focused on his criticism of the Ukraine foreign aid supplemental funding bill.
“Newsmax cut an entire segment of my interview last night,” Sen. Lee posted on X (formerly Twitter) late this afternoon. The conservative lawmaker continued: “No mention of Ukraine—even though part of the interview focused specifically on the supplemental.”
“I’ve never had this happen with any news network, not like this,” he added.
Sen. Lee specifically called out Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy over the cut segment, with the Senator asking him “what happened?”
The Utah Senator has been a strong critic of sending additional military and foreign aid to Ukraine, especially as its defense against Russia’s invasions appears to be faltering. On Saturday, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans in the House passed a series of supplemental funding bills that provide for tens of billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The legislation also includes a provision that would force the Chinese-owned company ByteDance to divest itself from TikTok.
A spokesman for Lee also told The National Pulse: “On Tuesday, Senator Lee appeared on ‘Eric Bolling The Balance’ on Newsmax to discuss various political issues of the day. For some reason, Newsmax aired everything but Senator Lee’s condemnation of the disastrous foreign aid bill that abandons America’s borders while throwing 60 billion dollars into the Ukraine proxy war. It is unclear who at Newsmax made the decision, but we know that it was not Mr. Bolling.”
The National Pulse previously reported that Newsmax received a $50 million investment from the Qatari royal family.
show lessNewsmax cut an entire segment of my interview last night. No mention of Ukraine—even though part of the interview focused specifically on the supplemental.
I’ve never had this happen with any news network, not like this. @ChrisRuddyNMX, what happened?https://t.co/Qb3BQ1Rpdx
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) April 23, 2024