Michael Moore has torn into the criticism that has rained on Olympic Gold Medal winner Ryan Lochte because of a run-in Aug. 14 with armed guards in Rio de Janeiro.

The Daily Caller - Michael Moore Defend Ryan LochteMoore, in extensive interview with The Daily Caller, Washington, D.C., said there are nine seconds on a videotape of a man pointing a gun towards Lochte but the next three minutes are “missing.”

He says this is obviously done by the “kangaroo court that wouldn’t return the passport of the swimmer until he gave the ‘judge’ $11,000 to the judge’s favorite ‘charity.'” That refers to swimmer Jimmy Feigen who made a $10,800 donation to escape prosecution, according to Swim Swam.

Feigen, Moore says, then signed a statement blaming “said criminal Ryan Lochte.”

This same “justice system kidnapped two other swimmers off the plane—the two who didn’t urinate outdoors in the bushes behind the building, who didn’t damage the urinal ad, who didn’t do anything—but they were hauled off the plane and held in jail until they, too, signed some document” blaming Lochte, he continued. The other swimmers are Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger.

Similar Incident Wished on Lauer

The Moore posting said NBC’s Matt Lauer, who conducted an extensive interview with Lochte, should himself be subjected to having a man in uniform “pull a gun on him and ‘negotiate’ with him.”

He admits that Lochte, a 12-time Olympic media winner, “got drunk and couldn’t remember every detail about the man who actually pulled a gun on him for money.”

Moore is distressed that Lochte’s “fellow Americans turned on him so quickly before they knew all the facts. That was the thanks he got from a grateful nation after giving up his entire adult life to swim for his country and ‘bring home the gold.’ There’s so much hate going around these days, we even throw it at a guy who’s the second most decorated swimmer ever, a guy who proudly waves our flag and held his hand over his heart during our national anthem.”

Lochte has lost four sponsors worth about $1 million in income including the parent of Gentle Hair Removal. Moore noted that swimmers shave not only their legs but their chests.

Others dropping the swimmer were Speedo, Ralph Lauren and Airweave.

The incident, in which Lochte knocked down a sign that had been loosely hanging outside the bathroom, resulted in U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun "all but promising" that Lochte and his teammates would be punished, said the Washington Post Aug. 22.

Also investigating were the International Olympic Committee, U.S. State Department, the FBI, Brazilian police, and U.S. Consulate in Rio.

Most media, including People magazine, referred to "Lochte's fabricated robbery story."