Accusations of Dirty Politics in Texas Senate Race

Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett spoke on MS NOW’s “The Weekend” on Saturday, accusing Democratic staffers and the team behind “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” of acting inappropriately toward Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) by not allowing her to appear on the show earlier this week.

Crockett is running against state Rep. James Talarico (D-Texas) in the Democratic Senate primary. Talarico stirred controversy Tuesday when he was a guest on “The Late Show.” He claimed that CBS had blocked an interview with him, which Colbert attributed to the FCC’s recent enforcement of longstanding equal time rules for candidates. This has sparked quite the discussion.

On Friday, Crockett stated that she hadn’t been invited to appear on Colbert’s show yet. She noted that she “received a call” on Tuesday saying CBS could proceed with the interview with Talarico, but only if she and another candidate, Ahmad Hassan, were also given equal time.

CBS later denied any claims that it had prohibited the broadcast of Talarico’s interview, countering Colbert’s assertions of interference.

When Bartlett was asked about the situation by MS NOW’s Jonathan Capehart, he expressed his views as a conservative. He seemed to hint at some clever political scheming at play, suggesting that some people may have bought into the narrative of stopping Colbert to hinder Talarico. He did say, though, “I don’t know if that’s true or not.” He also mentioned that he believes Jasmine Crockett may have been unfairly smeared in the process.

Bartlett dismissed the idea that President Donald Trump had anything to do with suppressing Talarico’s interview, saying that Talarico arguably benefited from this controversy, at least in terms of fundraising.

Following up, Capehart questioned Crockett regarding who she thought was behind the “dirty” tactics. Bartlett pointed to some of Colbert’s media staff and Talarico’s Democratic aides, suggesting that everyone seems to want to play the victim these days. He even noted that while Talarico might not truly be a victim of Trump’s oppression, Crockett could indeed be suffering due to misleading media coverage.

Echoing Bartlett’s earlier claims, Crockett indicated that the media frenzy surrounding Talarico’s situation ironically provided him “the boost they were looking for.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to CBS and Talarico for comments, but Talarico’s team has not responded.