Sebastian Gorka says his high-profile clash with a “non-journalist” in the White House Rose Garden could have a lingering positive impact and that he hopes others will follow “my example.”
Gorka, a conservative radio host and former White House adviser, denounced Playboy reporter and CNN contributor Brian Karem, getting in his face to declare “you’re not a journalist, you’re a punk” after Karem derided a group of conservative social media stars.
Gorka told the Washington Examiner the Thursday clash “will be historic” if it encourages others to challenge reporters accustomed to free-wheeling and often contentious questioning of President Trump and others.
The clash will have a long-term effect, he said, “if the Americans who love truth take the president’s lead and my example and stand up to the lies of the fake news non-journalists.”
The clash with Karem commanded wide attention. Video showed Gorka in a three-piece suit stride across the Rose Garden after Karem called the group of conservative influencers “a group of people that are eager for demonic possession.”
“And you’re a journalist, right?” Gorka called across the lawn. “Come on over here and talk to me, brother. We can go outside and have a long conversation,” Karem said, prompting Gorka to confront him, accusing him of making a threat.
President Trump tweeted his approval Friday morning, writing that “@SebGorka Wins Big, No Contest!.”
Trump’s media criticism, embraced by Gorka, has long made reporters uneasy. Though he at times has condemned violence against journalists, he routinely declares unfriendly news outlets “the enemy of the people.” Last year, a Trump-obsessed former stripper in Florida mailed bombs to outlets criticized by Trump.
Gorka left the White House in 2017 after occupying an ill-defined role. He was a frequent surrogate for Trump on TV, specifically on foreign policy matters.
The former adviser would not tell the Washington Examiner if he spoke directly with Trump, who himself also has clashed with Karem, ordering him to “sit down” during a recent Rose Garden event and chiding him to be “quiet!” during a South Lawn departure.
Gorka offered an additional kick to Karem, telling the Washington Examiner he should “learn to tie a tie.”
Karem, a journalist who was jailed for two weeks in 1990 for refusing to name a source in a murder case, worked Friday from a desk in the West Wing and dictated a response to Gorka: “Thanks for the grooming advice. First coffee is on me.”
Gorka’s return to the center of White House headlines included a prickly exchange with a second reporter.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Rose Garden, Voice of America journalist Steve Herman asked Gorka why he had blocked him on Twitter. Gorka said he had blocked 16,000 people and that the veteran foreign correspondent, who now covers the White House, must be an “ass hat” if he’d been blocked.
After the @POTUS statement, I queried @SebGorka (former deputy assistant to @POTUS) in the @WhiteHouse Rose Garden about why he blocks so many journalists (including me) on Twitter, despite insisting that people on social media shouldn’t be blocked. Here’s what happened. pic.twitter.com/ujpztNDncb
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) July 11, 2019
