White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tore into CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta for claiming a meme shared on President Trump’s Twitter page was a “fake” video.
During a press conference Friday, McEnany accused CNN of failing to see the message of the meme that Acosta claimed was “fake.”
“Last night, the president tweeted out some fake videos, one of which was labeled manipulated media by Twitter,” Acosta said. “Why is the president sharing fake videos on Twitter about two toddlers who are obviously showing a lot of love for one another? It seems as though he’s exploiting children to make some sort of crass, political point.”
McEnany, who was repeatedly interrupted by Acosta during the exchange, rebuffed the reporter’s suggestion that it was the Trump campaign trafficking in fake news. McEnany pointed out that it was actually CNN who was found guilty of exploiting a child after the news network was forced to settle with Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandman for $275 million after helping launch a one-sided viral video of the exchange he had with a Native American man on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
“He was making a point about CNN specifically,” McEnany responded. “A point that CNN has regularly taken him out of context. That in 2019, CNN misleadingly aired a clip from one viewpoint repeatedly to falsely accuse the Covington boys of being ‘Students in MAGA gear harassing a Native American elder.’ … It put really grave consequences for their future.”
The meme shared by Trump on Thursday was an edited version of two children, one black and one white, who embrace upon seeing each other. Meme artist Carpe Donktum edited the video to show the white child chasing the black child while an overlaid fake CNN chyron displayed the two phrases, “Terrified toddler runs from racist baby. Racist baby probably a Trump voter.”
Twitter placed a disclaimer underneath the shared video that stated the clip was “manipulated media.”
McEnany went on to call out CNN for pursuing an “ideological agenda” after the network’s repeated criticism of Trump’s Tulsa campaign rally on Saturday while downplaying the lack of social distancing present at massive protests throughout the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
“If these gatherings happen in light of a protest or a ‘rally,’ as you say, that rally is to be condoned but not the president’s rally,” McEnany said. “It’s appalling. You have one person on your network saying, ‘this is a celebration in the streets, a carnival-like atmosphere, there’s a guy with a sign that says free hugs. It’s beautiful what’s happening in the streets.'”
