New White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany started off her tenure in a similar fashion to her predecessors: blasting CNN and MSNBC.
McEnany, formerly a member of President Trump’s reelection campaign, was tapped as press secretary last week and promptly went on the offensive to defend the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings in her first interview since.
“It is shameful that CNN did not take the first part of the briefing, they have made that a trend,” McEnany explained Thursday morning on Fox & Friends. “It is shameful that MSNBC cut away from the briefing yesterday as President Trump praised American workers for making ventilators.”
“News organizations across the country that choose not to cover it and instead put on partisan individuals to put a lens on the news instead of hearing directly from their leaders. It is shameful,” she continued. “They should change that. The American people want leadership, and they see it with President Trump, and it is driving the news organizations across the country crazy.”
CNN and MSNBC have both opted to show the daily briefings in parts as they see fit while simultaneously attempting to fact-check the president’s statements during them. A number of MSNBC anchors — including Rachel Maddow, Joe Scarborough, and Chris Hayes — have encouraged their own network not to cover the briefings, but executives said they will continue to do so.
Comparatively, CNN has continued to air the briefings, cutting away occasionally, and has used anti-Trump language in their chyrons while covering them.
Before joining the president’s team, McEnany was a CNN commentator until she left the network in 2017.
