White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dismissed a question from Fox News journalist John Roberts regarding “white supremacy,” telling him President Trump had already answered the question.
“This has been answered. Yesterday, by the president himself,” McEnany told Roberts in a White House press conference Thursday, after he asked her to issue a “declarative” statement on behalf of the president denouncing white supremacy.
“The day before, by the president himself on the debate stage. The president was asked this and he said ‘sure’ three times. Yesterday, he was point-blank asked ‘Do you denounce white supremacy’ and he said ‘I’ve always denounced any form of that.”
McEnany then listed several examples of the president denouncing racism and white supremacy in the past.
.@johnrobertsFox: “Does the president denounce white supremacism and groups that espouse it, in all their forms?@PressSec: “This has been answered.”
Kayleigh McEnany recounts @realDonaldTrump‘s history of condemning white supremacy. pic.twitter.com/Qzl2oAcTY9
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 1, 2020
McEnany also responded to Roberts on Twitter, pointing out that his wife, ABC News reporter Kyra Phillips, posed the same question to the president a day earlier.
“.@johnrobertsFox I would refer you to your wife’s reporting from 21 hours ago… accurate reporting I cited in the White House Press Briefing,” McEnany tweeted Thursday.
.@johnrobertsFox I would refer you to your wife’s reporting from 21 hours ago… accurate reporting I cited in the White House Press Briefing. https://t.co/dV3Hzp1UaI
— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) October 1, 2020
Roberts expressed frustration with McEnany’s response to his line of questioning, appearing on Fox News moments after and lashing out at Twitter users criticizing him over asking the question.
“For all of you on Twitter who are hammering me for asking that question, I don’t care,” Roberts exclaimed. “It’s a question that needs to be asked.”
Some pretty striking comments from John Roberts on Fox pic.twitter.com/zqftfKoluF
— Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) October 1, 2020
Trump was widely criticized following Tuesday’s presidential debate for not condemning white supremacy strongly enough when asked to do so by both debate moderator Chris Wallace, and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Trump deflected an opportunity to condemn white supremacists during the presidential debate, briefly telling the right-wing Proud Boys group to ‘stand back and stand by’ before pivoting to attacking left-wing activists https://t.co/STRRTAVMi7 #Debates2020 pic.twitter.com/6uk0HRxF0a
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 30, 2020
