A CNN panel had an out loud laugh Sunday at vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine’s attempts this week to convince reporters that Hillary Clinton has been open and available to members of the press.
The moment occurred as host John King played a video clip of Kaine saying this week on “CBS This Morning” that the Democratic nominee “talks to the press a lot, and I’ve been with her when she’s talked to the press.”
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“Look, I don’t see what the massive difference is between a press conference and talking to the press everywhere you go,” Kaine also said.
There was a moment of silence on CNN following the clip, which King broke by uttering a simple “Uh-huh.”
The panel then had a good laugh at Kaine’s attempts to soften Clinton’s anti-journalist image.
“God bless the people who get to be vice presidential nominees, because they have to say things like this,” King said.
Political analyst Sara Murray tried to play fair, and noted that GOP nominee Donald Trump has been just as rotten as Clinton when it comes to treatment of the press.
“As journalists, we want more questions,” she said. “We want more press conferences, and we absolutely think that Hillary Clinton should be taking questions from the press regularly, which she does not do regularly. She does not hold press conferences.”
Kaine was hammered Thursday by the hosts of “CBS This Morning” with questions about Clinton’s lack of media availability.
The Democratic nominee hasn’t held a single press conference in 2016. In contrast, Trump has already held 17.
Clinton has agreed to dozens of sit-down interviews this year, but most of these exchanges are orchestrated affairs involving pre-selected media personalities asking pre-approved questions.
Even on the campaign trail, when reporters ask her brief, off-the-cuff questions, Clinton will have none of it.
Following Kaine’s appearance Thursday on “CBS This Morning,” a Clinton campaign aide revealed the Democratic nominee would soon allow reporters to travel with her on the same plane.
News that Clinton will reportedly accommodate her traveling press corps marks a major change of pace for a candidate who has up until now insisted on riding separately from media.
“Beginning on Monday — with just 64 days left until the election — the Democratic presidential nominee will replace her small, private jet with a significantly larger aircraft that she will not only share with her campaign staff, but with Secret Service staffers and reporters too,” ABC News reported, citing a campaign aide.
Clinton will start using the press-friendly plane starting on Labor Day, the aide said.
