CNN’s Alisyn Camerota ridiculed the brother of veteran Paul Whelan, who was detained by Russia this week for allegedly being a spy, over his brother’s anti-CNN social media posts.
“There are some strange elements of your — or at least questionable, I guess, of your brother’s story,” Camerota said. “He had this social media account, the equivalent in Russia of Facebook — it’s called VK — and he’s had it for 13 years.”
“And he had various postings on there — pictures of him in Russia,” Camerota continued. “I think the first one that we have is where he took like sort of a rest and relaxation — well, here’s one. I wasn’t planning to go to this one yet but let’s talk about this one. Here’s one where he says, ‘Just drinking coffee and watching fake news.'”
“Now, I’m not taking this personally that he’s pictured with CNN, but I just am wondering is this a statement on his part somehow?” Camerota asked.
“I don’t really know,” David Whelan responded. “I don’t know what’s on his V contact page. I don’t really follow him on social media other than on Twitter, which is where I am, so I don’t know what he was intending by those photos.”
“What did he tell you about his social media?” Camerota continued. “I mean, why do you think that he did have a VK account — a social media account in Russia?”
“I knew over the years he’d met Russians,” Whelan responded. “I don’t know whether it was through work or through his Marine activity but he’d met people while he’d been traveling around and he connected with them on social media. And he would tell us that when he was traveling he would go and visit those people.”
WATCH: