MSNBC anchor Brian Williams drolly roasted House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday night over his recent trip to “kiss the ring” of former President Donald Trump, playing “exclusive” footage of their Mar-a-Lago meeting.
Earlier in the day, the top Republican congressman traveled down to Florida to meet with Trump about the future of the GOP. The meeting took place just a few weeks after McCarthy criticized the president for his role in the insurrectionist riot, saying Trump “bears some responsibility” for inciting the MAGA mob that stormed the Capitol.
During Thursday night’s broadcast of The 11th Hour, Williams promised his viewers that his production team had obtained an “exclusive video out of this meeting today between McCarthy and Trump,” telling his on-air guests that they would discuss after airing the clip.
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Instead of footage from Mar-a-Lago, however, the famous “You complete me” scene from the 1996 film Jerry Maguire was shown, featuring characters played by Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger professing their love for one another.
Immediately after Zellweger’s character says “You had me at hello,” Williams cut back in and feigned surprise that the control room ran the wrong footage.
“That is, uh, obviously we have rolled the wrong clip. And we were, we were sold a bill of goods here,” Williams dryly said. “I thought this was going to be of the McCarthy and Trump meeting and someone will be, of course, in big trouble.”
After pretending to chastise the show’s staff, Williams turned to panelist Baratunde Thurston to note that “you have the leader of the Republicans in the House, going down to kiss the ring and god knows what else, meeting with a deposed former president in his under-decorated Florida home.”
“Is that because this is the only game they have, they badly need supporters and the thing they fear the most is having his supporters turn against them?” Williams further asked.
“Brian, I’m still recovering from the video clip,” Thurston replied, still laughing.
