White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday dismissed Fox News reporter John Roberts, who repeatedly demanded that she condemn white supremacy on behalf of the Trump administration.
“This has been answered yesterday by the president himself, the day before by the president himself,” McEnany said.
She noted that President Donald Trump had condemned white supremacy by saying “sure” three times during the presidential debate on Tuesday night when asked if he would denounce white supremacists. She also noted that he did it again in response to a reporter on Wednesday.
“I always denounce any form, any form of any of that,” Trump replied on Wednesday afternoon when asked to condemn white supremacists. “You have to denounce.”
McEnany also cited remarks from 2019 and 2017 in which Trump condemned white supremacy and noted that his administration executed a criminal white supremacist.
“He has condemned white supremacy more than any president in modern history,” McEnany said.
Roberts protested, noting that she was only reading old statements from President Trump condemning white supremacy.
“The president has denounced this repeatedly, the president was asked this, you’re contriving a storyline and a narrative,” she said.
McEnany also excoriated CNN, calling out reporter Manu Raju for claiming that Trump “dodged” a question about white supremacists, when the president actually denounced them.
“Do you know why people have lost trust in the media? There was a reporter from your network yesterday, your network, and in a tweet said, ‘The president dodged a question about white supremacy,’” she said in response to a question from CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins.
McEnany signaled disbelief that a CNN reporter could say that when Trump specifically denounced white supremacy in response to a reporter on Wednesday.
When Collins tried to interrupt, McEnany shot back, “I sat here when you lobbed your partisan attack question, so you will allow me to give you an answer.”
“CNN I know the truth is of no moment to your network, but those are the facts,” she continued.
Another reporter asked McEnany if President Trump misspoke during the debate on the issue of white supremacy.
“When the president denounced white supremacy and said, ‘sure’ he did not misspeak,” she replied.
CBS News anchor Paula Reid also repeatedly tried to talk over McEnany as she tried to answer her question about white supremacy.
“Let me speak Paula. Paula, we’re not having a debate on a cable news set right now, you need to let me finish,” she continued. “It’s quite funny that the media goes haywire about interrupting in debates and then chooses to pursue that very same tactic themselves. This is a White House briefing. You ask me a question and give me time to answer.”
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