MSNBC’s Ari Melber called out Trump 2020 official Mark Lauter for pushing debunked claims about Joe Biden’s alleged corruption and mischaracterizing President Donald Trump’s request to investigate the former vice president in a July phone call with the Ukrainian president.

Melber, who had pressed Lauter to repudiate the brazen dishonesty of former Trump aide Corey Lewandowski at the start of his interview, drilled into the apparent contradiction between the president’s favorite “no collusion” claim and his admission that he sought Ukrainian help in probing his potential 2020 rival, Biden.

“Can you help us understand as people get ready for this race, after years of no collusion claims, your campaign now has the White House basically admitting Donald Trump clueded with Ukraine to go after Biden,” Melber asked. “Is the president now basically running from no collusion? Is he now running on pro collusion?”

“I think he’s running against corruption,” Lauter responded, before going on to strongly imply that Biden’s actions with regard to the firing of a Ukrainian state prosecutor were improper. “I think what we have to do is get to the bottom, not only of the Ukrainian influence in the 2016 election, but also, if there was any impropriety by the former vice president, and his son getting paid by a Ukrainian company with no experience, getting a $1.5 billion…”

“We’re not going to spend our time doing that,” Melber broke in.

“How does it work for you when you have your president that you’re seeking re-election, he is seeking to do that?” Melber pressed. “You’re telling me today you’re not looking for foreign help, but the Ukraine call notes, even before you get to the whistleblower, has the president saying ‘Do me a favor,’ go after a domestic rival, Joe Biden.”

“That is not what the transcript says and you know better than that, Ari,” Lauter said. “He says ‘Do me a favor,’ look into the corruption, the details of the incident of the 2016 election meddling which I know many on this network have said…”

“Let me read to you from the administration of the Donald Trump describing what this is, quote ‘The president wanted allegations of corruption involving an American official’ — that’s Biden — ‘to be investigated by Ukraine. ‘Do me a favor,’ investigate Biden. Why are you denying that when we all can see out here in the light of day? Unlike Lewandowski, you said you weren’t going to lie in this interview. I’m reading to you from what the White House put out this week, currently.”

“And I’ll reiterate to you what the actual phone call said,” Lauter responded. “It talked about looking into Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election, and it also talked about investigating the former vice president of the United States…

“Right, investigating Joe Biden, as a rival,” Melber pointed out.

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.

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