MSNBC anchors Stephanie Ruhle and Ali Velshi issued corrections on March 18, 2025, after inaccurately reporting that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had described President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “very good friends.”
Both anchors clarified on their shows that Gabbard was actually referring to Trump’s relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not Putin, during her interview with an Indian television network.
“Last night we reported on excerpts of an interview between the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and an Indian TV news network in which she said that Trump was good friends with a world leader. We said that world leader was Vladimir Putin. But the full interview shows that Gabbard was referring to Trump and Indian Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi. Cleared that up,” Ruhle said Tuesday during her MSNBC show.
Velshi, substituting for Lawrence O’Donnell on “The Last Word,” made a similar correction. “Now, we said that world leader was Vladimir Putin, but the full interview was subsequently released, and it showed that Gabbard was referring to Donald Trump and the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi,” Velshi stated during the broadcast.
The Associated Press also published and later retracted a similar story with a misleading headline. The agency acknowledged the mistake, removed the original article, and published a corrected version with an editor’s note to ensure transparency.
Gabbard also spoke about Trump’s upcoming call with Putin, noting the president was “looking forward to success” ahead of the scheduled conversation but did not characterize their relationship as a friendship. She criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine war, suggesting that under the Trump administration, there was an “unwavering commitment to peace” and more progress toward ending the conflict.
The day before issuing the correction, Ruhle criticized Gabbard for being “disconnected with the majority of Americans” based on the misreported comments. Similarly, during “The Last Word” on Monday, guest host Jonathan Capehart referenced the incorrect report while questioning Michael McFaul, an MSNBC international affairs analyst, asking: “Gabbard is saying out loud that U.S. and Russia relations are a shared mission. How dangerous is that?”
Gabbard’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Alexa Henning, responded strongly to the Associated Press headline on social media platform X.
“The @AP is total trash. DNI @TulsiGabbard was referring to PM Modi & President Trump and this is the headline they publish. This is why no one trusts the maliciously incompetent and purposefully bias [sic] media. If this isn’t a clear example of pushing a solely political narrative, then nothing is,” Henning wrote.
This incident arises amid ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and mainstream media outlets. Lawrence O’Donnell, the usual host of “The Last Word,” recently announced he needed a week off from hosting, citing exhaustion from covering Trump’s presidency.
The reporting error regarding Gabbard’s comments also comes as the Trump administration navigates complex relations with Russia and Ukraine. Trump and Vice President JD Vance recently had a tense meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.
Trump also had a phone call with Putin to discuss a partial ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, an issue that has been at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy discussions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
The full context of Gabbard’s interview shows her discussing how Trump and Modi are engaged in high-level talks on shared interests and diplomatic initiatives, emphasizing bilateral cooperation between the United States and India rather than making claims about Trump’s relationship with Putin.