Lee Zeldin calls reporters 'shills' for Adam Schiff after fiery exchange with NBC reporter

Republican lawmakers had such a contentious briefing with reporters about the impeachment trial that one representative called the media "shills" for Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the lead impeachment manager.

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) was being aggressively questioned by Heidi Przybyla of NBC News when he made the comments.

"Congressman, so DOD certified this money in May, they said Ukraine met all anti-corruption standards, so what specifically happened that made the president all of a sudden concerned about corruption? What specific corruption was he chasing?" asked Przybyla.

Zeldin gave a lengthy response about the corruption in Ukraine prior to the decision that Trump made to hold the military aid in question. Przybyla interrupted to ask him to focus in on why the president became so concerned with corruption at a specific time.

"You have to let me answer your questions," Zeldin said after Przybyla interrupted. "If I give a good answer, that doesn't mean that you have to cut me off. OK? I know that if I give a bad answer you'd probably let me go all day."

"I know it's a hard question," Przybyla said. "The president is not on the record mentioning anything other than Biden and CrowdStrike, that's it, and you haven't mentioned anything else."

When other reporters jumped in to challenge Zeldin along the same lines, he accused them of being biased.

"You're doing a great job as Schiff's shills," Zeldin said. "This is the problem, the problem is that you're actually insulting your audience."

Zeldin and Przybyla continued their feud on Twitter after the interaction.

Zeldin accused NBC News of cutting out his answer, while Przybyla responded that he didn't answer her question.

The Senate impeachment trial is not expected to result in a vote that would remove the president from office.

Here's video of the entire exchange:

www.youtube.com