The Hill: House Democrat thanks Fox’s Shep Smith ‘for telling the truth’ on Trump

It's rare for a Democratic lawmaker to thank a Fox News host, but that's exactly what Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) did after Fox News anchor Shepard Smith ripped the Trump administration's handling of the investigations into Russian election meddling.

"More liberal propaganda against @realDonaldTrump," Lieu wrote on Twitter. "Oh wait, this is from Shepard Smith w/ @FoxNews. Thank you Shepard for telling the truth."

Smith, who hosts "Shepard Smith Reporting" on the conservative-leaning news network, delivered a diatribe against the Trump administration's failure to disclose a list of meetings and contacts with Russian nationals and officials held during the 2016 election and presidential transition.

"Why is it lie after lie after lie?" Smith said on the air Friday. "If you come on clean – my grandmother used to say, 'oh, the tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.'"

"The deception, Chris, is mind boggling," he continued, referring to Fox News' Chris Wallace. "And there are still people out there who believe we're making it up, and one day they're going to realize we're not."

In its first six months, the Trump administration has faced a growing number of revelations that associates of the president and members of his campaign and transition team met or communicated with Russian officials and nationals.

Trump's first national security adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign in February after it was revealed that he misled Vice President Pence about the nature of his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner also participated in meetings with Kislyak and the CEO of a Russian state-run bank, and has amended his national security questionnaire to reflect meetings and contacts that he had initially omitted.

The president eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., found himself in the midst of the latest Russia-related controversy after it was revealed that he met with a Russian lawyer last summer who had promised Trump's campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Kushner and then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort also attended, as did publicist Rob Goldstone, who acted as an intermediary in setting up the meeting.

Since then, the list of known participants in the meeting has grown to include a Russian-American lobbyist, an interpreter and another person who has not yet been identified.