Rachel Maddow Slams “Ballistic” Bill O’Reilly Over Threats to Reporter

Bill O’Reilly has a history of hurling insults and threats at his detractors. With the controversy over the reports from Mother Jones, CNN, and others that he embellished his reporting experience in the Falklands War, the Fox News host has added to this reputation by suggesting Mother Jones editor David Corn be placed in “the kill zone” and by telling a New York Times reporter she would face consequences if a story on the controversy did not please him.

“I am coming after you with everything I have. You can take that as a threat,” O’Reilly told Times reporter Emily Steel.

During the “Debunktion Junction” segment on her show Tuesday night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow slammed O’Reilly over his latest personal attacks and threats.

“Fox News has a bunch of folks like Mr. O’Reilly on their shows—part of why I call them ‘Republican TV,'” Maddow said. “But they also have a lot of real reporters on staff who do real reporting all day long on real news…I’m sure they don’t take kindly when their own reporters get threatened for trying to do their jobs. But it is hard to imagine what this is going to do to the work environment at Fox News channel for the Fox News channel’s real reporters, and they do have them.”

Watch below:

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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