When people in the mainstream press wonder why people don’t trust them to be fair and impartial, Katy Tur’s comments are a perfect illustration of why there is no trust. Donald Trump’s comments about Vladimir Putin in his interview with Bill O’Reilly were reprehensible.

When old that Putin is a “killer,” Trump responded that the United States kills people and so we’re not any worse. Naturally, Trump’s answer obfuscates the real problem. U.S. Presidents are not the habit of killing journalists whereas Putin does.

For Trump to act as an apologist for Putin is ridiculous enough. When the media takes it to a whole new level of absurd, it takes attention away from the original absurdity. Katy Tur of NBC News was interviewing Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer when the subject turned from Betsy Devos to President Trump’s comments about Putin. Watch:

Senator, the junior senator in your state, Senator Ben Sasse, came up strongly over the weekend condemning Donald Trump’s assertion that we are just as bad as Russia. When he said that, you know, we — America does bad and terrible things, too, when Bill O’Reilly asked him if Vladimir Putin was a killer.

Why — what is your sense of why this president is going above and beyond — bending over backwards, if you will — to stay away from criticizing the Russian president and to almost give him an excuse? As we know, there’s, since 2000, been a couple dozen suspicious deaths of journalists in Russia who came out against the government there. Donald Trump has made no secret about going after journalists and his distaste for any news that doesn’t agree with him here. Do you find that this is a dangerous path he is heading down?

Her implication, of course, being, “Will President Trump attempt to take out some journalists he doesn’t like?”

Note to Katy: You’re a reporter. Report what Donald Trump says not what you think he could do or the “dangerous path” you think he is heading down.