At today’s White House briefing, the press corps mixed it up with Press Secretary Sean Spicer. It all began when NBC’s Kristen Welker asked about the use of the word “ban” when describing the executive order on extreme vetting of international travelers entering the U.S. from seven foreign nations.
Here’s how it went:
Welker: Sean you’re saying this was not a ban. This was President’s Trump tweet “if the ban were announced with a one-week notice the bad would rush into our country.”
Spicer: He’s using the words the media is using.
Welker: Those were his words.
Spicer: It can’t be a ban if you’re letting 1 million people…if 325,000 people from another country can’t come in, that is by nature not a ban.
Welker: The president himself called it a ban.
Spicer: I understand that.
Welker: Is he confused or are you confused?
Spicer: I’m not confused. The words being used to describe it derive from what the media is calling this. He’s been clear it is extreme vetting.
The press secretary spiced it up with this line: “Your network was one of the people that just hours ago told people General Kelly was unaware of what’s going on and moments later he gets on air saying here’s how many times [he’s] been briefed. With all due respect I think you have been part of the confusion. You have helped cause this.”
Back to the don’t-call-it-a-ban ban. CNN’s The Lead did some digging and found out it’s not just Trump who used the term in the last 24 hours:
.@jaketapper: Don't follow the media's lead in calling it a ban. Follow the lead of the White House. https://t.co/K2GzrRLRxm pic.twitter.com/DIb2ccsZlV
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) January 31, 2017