Two Fox News hosts clashed Monday over the investigation into Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and one of them wound up calling “bullsh-t” on air.
Bob Beckel and Jesse Watters were discussing the degree to which the U.S. should get involved in the investigation on “The Five,” but the two disagreed strongly over how President Barack Obama should handle the situation.
In a news conference earlier in the day, President Obama accused pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine of tampering with the crash site. He also lashed out at the rebels over the conditions at the site, their treatment of the victims’ bodies, and he called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to rein the rebels in.
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Watters thinks that means the U.S. needs to get involved. “Why don’t they send investigators in?” he asked.
Beckel offered a quick and heated response. “How the hell are they going to get there?” he said. “How are they going to get there when they have people (the separatists) shooting at them?”
Fellow co-host Greg Gutfeld tried to diffuse the situation, but both ignored him.
“You said we have the most amazing army in the entire world,” Watters replied, “now you say we can’t go to Ukraine?”
That claim sent Beckel into a frenzy. “No, we can’t,” he barked, before pounding the table with his fist. “You want boots on the ground? You want them on the ground in Ukraine? If you want to be a warmonger and go to Ukraine, do it.”
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“It doesn’t mean I’m a warmonger. It just means I want to protect the crime scene,” said Watters.
“That’s bulls—!” Beckel said finally, with the network censoring his last word.
All 298 people on board Flight 17 were killed. According to reporters on the ground in Ukraine, the rebels have treated the victims’ remains poorly and looted the crash site.
The pro-Russia fighters also removed the jetliner’s black boxes from the crash site. But in a meeting Monday in the city of Donetsk, senior separatist leader Alexander Borodai handed the black boxes over to a delegation from Malaysia.
“Here they are, the black boxes,” Borodai said as he placed the boxes on a desk in front of a room full of reporters.
Col. Mohamed Sakri of the Malaysian National Security Council said the black boxes were “in good condition.”
