Rachel Maddow was shocked Tuesday evening following word that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly has been threatening reporters who cover the controversy surrounding his war reporting.
O'Reilly is facing harsh scrutiny for allegedly misrepresenting his experiences covering the Falklands War in 1982. O'Reilly had previously said that he was in "a combat situation" in Argentina, but Mother Jones' David Corn and Daniel Schulman questioned that account, noting that the Fox News host was in Buenos Aires during the war, more than 1,200 miles away from the fighting on Falkland Islands.
Since then, several former colleagues have spoken out against O'Reilly, and reports have emerged accusing him of fabricating other stories as well. The Fox News host continues to defend his reporting.
O'Reilly later said that Corn was a "liar" and that he deserves to "be in the kill zone."
But the threats didn't stop there. On Tuesday, O'Reilly lashed out at a New York Times reporter covering the scandal. "I am coming after you with everything I have," he said. "You can take it as a threat."
A stunned Maddow took to her show Tuesday to question how any news anchor could make such a threat "without apology."
"Fox News has a bunch of folks like Mr. O'Reilly on their shows, it's part of why I call them 'Republican TV,'" she said.
"But they also have a lot of real reporters on staff who do real reporting all day long on real news," Maddow continued. "And I'm sure they don't take kindly when their own reporters get threatened for trying to do their jobs. But it is hard to imagine what this is going to do to the work environment at Fox News Channel for the Fox News Channel's real reporters."