In an interview with Bill O'Reilly on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer seemed perplexed by the Fox News host asserting that "the Obama administration doesn't tell us anything" about numerous government scandals: "So you think there's been less transparency under this administrations than there has been under past administrations?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

O'Reilly responded: "I don't know. I mean maybe, but I can't find out anything. Can you? I don't know what happened in Benghazi, I don't know what happened in the IRS, I don't know what happened with James Rosen....they won't tell us anything."

Lauer continued to be skeptical: "Do you think those are just unrelated stories that can't be tied together or do you think, as some critics say, this is a second term in full reverse because of abuses of power?"

O'Reilly replied: "All I know is it's chaos, it's scandal du jour. What day is it? Tuesday, now we have Hillary Clinton running around with some Belgium ambassador not doing what he should do. Every day it's something else."

The exchange began with the NSA snooping controversy and Lauer running defense for the administration:

And the government says it's essential to our national security. If the government were to come out and say, "You know what? We're also listening in on phone calls between people, but we've got proof that it's thwarted terrorist attacks." How would you feel about that?...A new Washington Post/Pew poll says – they asked Americans about their reaction to the latest leaks and showed a mixed reaction. 52% of Americans agree that the government should not monitor everyone's e-mail and online activity, but the poll also found that 62% of Americans think the federal government should investigate possible terrorist threats, even if that means intruding on privacy. So clearly people understand that security doesn't come without a price.

In an interview with counterterrorism expert Michael Sheehan on the May 14, 2008 edition of Today, Lauer fretted: "You say we've got to use more undercover agents, informants, wiretapping, e-mail surveillance, the works. That sound you just heard, Michael, is the far left grabbing for their remote controls, because they say, you're going to do this, you're going to trample civil liberties."