BRIAN STELTER (HOST): Is the Trump and Russia story “over,” like the biggest stars on Fox News claim? That's the subject of my essay today. Is its over or is it very much ongoing? Because the experts say it's very much ongoing. Multiple investigations are underway, many questions about Russian interference in the election are unanswered, and some of President Trump’s defenses are unbelievable. But I want you to notice how conservative media heavyweights have been spinning this. They talk about Russia in the past tense, like it's over, like it's been settled, and like Trump has been completely vindicated. Watch this from Fox, this is Tucker Carlson's show on August 24th.

[BEGIN VIDEO]

TUCKER CARLSON: Did the Russia story disappear or is that my imagination?

JOE CONCHA: Yeah, boy, before I went on vacation, it was the biggest story of our lifetime and we were --

CARLSON: Ever.

CONCHA: -- entering a constitutional crisis. Now, I can’t see to find any coverage on it. It really is quite remarkable, Tucker.

CARLSON: It's weird, what a fickle group they are, those journalists.

[END VIDEO]

STELTER: Hey, that's been a popular pro-Trump talking point. But it's embarrassing for Tucker given the daily drip, drip, drip of new information, coming from hardworking reporters.

[…]

STELTER: But this idea has been a theme on Fox's opinion shows in recent weeks, the idea that the Russia scandal has just, I don't know, just faded away.

[BEGIN VIDEO]

CHARLES HURT: What is one thing that I don't think anybody has talked about all week? Russia. In fact I don't remember the last time I read a story about Russia and three weeks ago, it was all we were talking about.

[END VIDEO]

STELTER: So now they claim Trump critics are desperately trying to change the subject. 

[BEGIN VIDEO]

MARIA BARTIROMO: The Russia probe didn't go anywhere for the Dems, so now they're all outraged over the confederate statues. 

TRISH REGAN: They didn't get anywhere thus far on this Russian investigation. They've tried, they've tried, they've tried. That story really didn't gather a lot of steam. 

[END VIDEO]

STELTER: See? It's Russia in the past tense, implying that it's all over now, that there's no [Russia probe special counsel] Robert Mueller investigation, there's no more concerns about hacking or colluding, there's nothing to see here.

[BEGIN VIDEO]

SEAN HANNITY: It's gone from Russia, Russia, Russia, to President Trump going to launch a war with North Korea, to, “Oh my gosh, racist, racist, racist.”

HERMAN CAIN: They didn't make Russia, Russia, Russia stick, as you pointed out. They are trying to make racist, racist, racist stick. 

[END VIDEO]

STELTER: So you see what's going on here. The message from these Fox shows is, “People are out to get Trump no matter what, whether it's about Russia, whether it's about Charlottesville, no matter what it is.” Trump morning hosts -- excuse me, Fox & Friends morning hosts, not “Trump & Friends,” although that's a good name for it -- Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade even suggested this is a conspiracy, that whenever Trump has a few good news cycles, The Washington Post finds some new Russia surprise. 

[BEGIN VIDEO]

BRIAN KILMEADE: Every time he gets on a roll, they come up with some type of Russia --

LAURA INGRAHAM: Bingo.

KILMEADE: -- limerick that we all have to digest. 

INGRAHAM: Yeah, terrific point. 

[END VIDEO]

STELTER: Those talking heads should ask real reporters how this works. This kind of investigative reporting takes a lot of time, it's going to take many more months. But when there are important new developments, and there basically are every day, these pro-Trump shows on Fox just tune it out, they just completely ignore it. The network's newest conservative commentator, Tomi Lahren, kind of gave away the script. She said this on Hannity the other night.

[BEGIN VIDEO]

TOMI LAHREN: How about we make a deal? How about when the mainstream media stops covering Russia day in and day out, maybe we can drop the Hillary email scandal, but until then, I think I'm going to stay on it. 

[END VIDEO]

STELTER: What a pretty revealing comment, right? That she's going to keep talking about Clinton as long as everybody else keeps talking about Trump and Russia. But what's clear from all these clips is that the pro-Trump media wants the Russia investigations to be over, so maybe they’re just pretending like the investigations are over. They’re not curious, they don’t want questions answered about what really happened last year and what might happen in future elections.

Previously:

CNN’s Brian Stelter: Fox Is Living In An “Alternate Reality” Where Bombshell Allegations Aren’t A Giant Problem For Trump

CNN's Stelter: Fox & Friends is “a daily infomercial for the Trump presidency”

CNN's Brian Stelter: Trump's Presidency Is A “Fox News Presidency”