Henry Stalks Anchors on POTUS's Off-Record Lunch

CNNÂ’s senior White House correspondent Ed Henry played reporter today with national news anchors who lunched with President Obama today in a traditional off-the-record meal prior to the SOTU address. Henry hounded anchors for commentary on the lunch. Most took it as a chance to humorously mess with Henry. NBC News's Brian Williams refused to give into Henry's pestering. "I can't comment on anything we did or did not have, or whether food was consumed," Williams deadpanned. A beat later he added, "I'm going to spill all of it to [MSNBC's] Savannah Guthrie, who's so much better looking." CNN's John King was equally standoffish as Henry followed King and CNN's Wolf Blitzer to the White House gate. "It's off the record!" King replied to nearly every question Henry asked. The only aspect he'd discuss was the cuisine. "Beautiful chicken, wonderful pie," he remarked. (Beautiful chicken?) Even on a softball question regarding his new show, King interrupted Henry and declared: "Off the record!" CBS's Katie Couric also wouldn't dish. "It was very nice," she said. But she wouldn't talk about it. "It's pretty much off the record." CBS's Bob Schieffer was friendliest but also wouldn't gab. "The president is a very interesting person to talk to ... I always get a thrill out of being here." Correspondent Ali Velshi, who didn't attend the lunch but who headlined the segment in which Henry's feature ran, gave Henry crap about Henry having more Twitter followers than he does. "What happens is he's got more than I do," said Velshi, pleading viewers to also follow him. Watch Henry's feature video here.

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Henry Stalks Anchors on POTUS's Off-Record Lunch

Betsy Rothstein

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