Minnesota Republican Rep. Tom Emmer blamed moderate Republicans for the failure last week of Republican legislation to replace the 2010 health care law.

In an interview with Twin Cities News Talk, Emmer said conservatives like himself were not responsible for the failure of the legislation known as the American Health Care Act, “Closing Argument” host Walter Hudson posted on PJ Media.

“So you had the vast majority of the Freedom Caucus that was already a yes,” Emmer said. “And then you had probably the same number, 10 to 15, of the Tuesday group — which are called the moderates. They were also a no.”

Emmer claimed that two-thirds to three-quarters of the House Freedom Caucus were a “yes” on the legislation, and he blamed the media and “liberals” for pushing the narrative that conservatives killed the bill to try to diminish their influence.

“I think this is done both by liberals on the left as much as liberals on the right,” he said. “The more you can marginalize this group, the less influence they can have, right?”

And Emmer singled out the “lazy and ignorant” media.

“I don’t give the mainstream media this much credit, because I think they’re both ignorant and lazy,” he said. “I don’t know where they get this information that they’ve reported as if they’ve got an inside track.

“I showed [a group of Republican activists] Saturday morning…  I pulled the list out of my pocket. I had a whip list in my pocket, and I know the people that I talked to directly, and I can guarantee you that the reporters in the mainstream media did not have the same conversations that I did,” he said.