Fox News hosts Charles Payne and Geraldo Rivera got into it after Rivera made a ridiculous claim, and then a factually inaccurate statement.

It came when the two appeared on the Fox News primetime show “Hannity” to discuss President Joe Biden’s trip to Ukraine. The host, Sean Hannity, argued that the president was not doing enough to assist Ukraine after he nixed a deal to send Polish fighter jets to the war-torn nation this year.

“If we’re going to give $120 billion to Ukraine and then Joe Biden has now not once, but a number of times, he has vetoed other European countries from giving fighter jets so that they can compete with Putin in the air,” the host said. “And there’s no reason to do that except, he’s not fighting to win the war.”

“It’s a proxy war,” Payne, who is a host on Fox Business, said. “I think the administration’s happy if it’s just bogged down. If you can bog Russia down, they lose a lot of people.”

“The only thing I did not like about President Biden’s visit was the air raid sirens. That was the most phony baloney stuff. The air raid sirens hadn’t gone on, ’cause they hadn’t gone off for five days. It was …” Payne said before Rivera interrupted by saying  “They’ve lost 100,000 people.”

Advertisement

“Air raid sirens had not gone off in that city in five days. It was phony baloney Hollywood junk,” Payne said.

“I absolutely disagree,” Rivera snapped back.

“They didn’t need that,” Payne insisted.

“That is a little partisan jab that you didn’t have to make. They have lost 100,000–,” Rivera said

“Russia was notified that Biden was coming. Do you think Russia was gonna drop a bomb on President Biden?!” Payne exclaimed.

“Russia was not notified,” Rivera said.

“Yes they were!” Payne said. And he was correct. Russia was notified hours before President Biden arrived in Ukraine that he would be arriving.

“We did notify the Russians that President Biden would be traveling to Kyiv. We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, said to reporters in a press briefing on Monday, ABC News reported.

“Because of the sensitive nature of those communications, I won’t get into how they responded or what the precise nature of our message was. But I can confirm that we provided that notification,” he said.

Russia knew Biden was Ukraine! Air Raid Alarm sounded as a symbolic recognition of Biden being there with Zelenskyy. You didn’t see people scrambling for safety! But Geraldo Rivera didn’t like Charles Payne calling out the truth to him about the visit and what was fake, etc! pic.twitter.com/AYceFpOF6G

— MAGAMAN (@DontTreadOnMAGA) February 23, 2023

It was reported this month that Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly deploying nuclear-armed military assets in and around Ukraine as well as near the borders of the United States as the first anniversary of his invasion draws near.

According to reports, Putin on Wednesday ordered nuclear-capable bombers aloft in a show of strength to the West while the country of Norway warned Russia has also deployed tactical nuclear weapons on warships in the Baltic Sea for the first time in three decades, since the end of the Cold War.

Prop-driven Tu-95MS “Bear” bombers accompanied by Su-30 fighter planes took off from Russia’s Eastern Military District and flew for around seven hours over the Bering Sea, which separates Alaska and the Russian far east. Since the invasion, Russian propagandists and various officials have repeatedly threatened the use of nukes as Russian soldiers continue dying by the tens of thousands, most notably at the hands of Ukrainian forces using Western arms.

The UK’s Daily Mail reported:

Russia’s language has escalated against Ukraine’s allies in recent months as they have pledged increasingly more powerful weapons to Kyiv’s on-going war effort.

The bombers took flight as the Norwegian Intelligence Service said in its annual report that ships from Russia’s Northern Fleet had started going to sea with nuclear weapons. This was common practice during the Cold War, but the report noted this was the first time the modern Russian Federation had done so.

“The key part of the nuclear potential is on the submarines and surface ships of the Northern Fleet,” said the Norwegian intelligence report. Tactical nukes are “a particularly serious threat in several operational scenarios in which NATO countries may be involved,” the report noted further.

In addition, Putin possesses many other military capabilities, including nuclear-armed submarines, anti-satellite weapons, and cyberwar capabilities, all of which would pose significant threats to Norway and its NATO allies.

NATO ministers met in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing war and, in particular, Ukraine’s need for significant amounts of ammunition and other munitions that the West is finding increasingly difficult to supply. That said, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley proclaimed that Russia has already lost in Ukraine.

“Russia is now a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost; they’ve lost strategically, operationally, and tactically,” he said, according to the Daily Mail.