MSNBC host warns Trump adviser over ‘false quote’

MSNBC’s Ari Melber took issue with Trump campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski after linking a “false quote” to the host on Wednesday.

“I’ll inform you,” Melber told Lewandowski in a controversial live interview.

“If you continue to falsely repeat that I said that, you may find yourself in a situation of defamation because I did not say that. But I understand that you work outside the Internet, which contains a lot of false information.’

Lewandowski, a former campaign manager for Donald Trump’s 2016 bid, tried to dodge a question about says he has “no obligation to be honest with the media” and instead pointed to the host’s reporting during the Republican National Convention in July.

Melber was at the time quoted a New York Times critic which Trump called “his own biggest supporter” before writing on his bandaged ear in the wake of the assassination attempt that month.

“A reminder of mortality, a sign of survival – it was a blank rectangle for the crowd to read whatever they wanted, making it the most powerful sign in the hall,” the NYT piece said.

Melber added, after quoting part of the broadcast piece: “A sign for delegates to fill out, an image for political mobilization, a spectacle for this candidate who we know is, by his own admission, obsessed with all kinds of spectacles .”

On Wednesday, the Trump adviser accused Melber of saying Trump had a bandage on his ear “just for a spectacle” before the host, seeking to clarify his on-air analysis from July, issued a warning.

“Fox News, which has been found guilty of defamation, walked one false piece falsely claiming I said something else that I didn’t say,” Melber said of the RNC coverage. “So that’s what I insist on. I stand by the New York Times quote.”