At today’s on-camera White House briefing, the first question was about CNN’s retracted report about an allegation that the chief of a Russian investment fund met with Trump transition team member, and former FBN host, Anthony Scaramucci.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who conducted the briefing, didn’t mention CNN by name when she said the story was “a disgrace to all of media, to all of journalism. I think that we have gone to a place where if the media can’t be trusted to report the news, then that’s a dangerous place for America. If that is the place that certain outlets are going, particularly for the purpose of spiking ratings, and if that’s coming directly from the top, I think that’s even more scary.”
Her “from the top” reference was to CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker. Huckabee Sanders then encouraged “everybody in this room and frankly everybody around the country” to watch a recording of a longtime CNN producer who is heard calling the coverage of any Trump ties to Russia “mostly bullshit.”
But that only set off more tension in the briefing room when Brian Karem of The Sentinel Newspapers lashed out at Sanders.
“Come on,” said Karem, “You’re inflaming everybody right here right now with those words. Any one of us are replaceable and anyone of us, if we don’t get it right, the audience has the opportunity to turn the channel or not read us. We’re here to ask you questions. You’re here to provide the answers, and what you just did is inflammatory to people all over the country.”
“I disagree completely,” said Huckabee Sanders. “First of all. I think if anything has been inflamed, it’s the dishonesty that often takes place by the news media and I think it is outrageous for you to accuse me of inflaming a story when I was simply trying to respond to his question.”
Tense moment in briefing as reporter confronts White House's Sarah Sanders after she decried "fake news", etc. pic.twitter.com/kVEPNipPt9
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) June 27, 2017