‘Let’s Not Make Any Mistake About What’s Happening Here’
CNN’s Jake Tapper Friday afternoon slammed the White House after Press Secretary Sean Spicer canceled the regularly scheduled televised daily press briefing but held a special press event and barred top news outlets from attending. CNN, The New York Times, and POLITICO were the three news organizations that were barred from the briefing, while extremist outlets supportive of the Trump administration, along with mainstream news outlets including ABC News, NBC News, and others, were allowed to attend.
“Let’s not make any mistake about what’s happening here,” Tapper said as he began Friday’s broadcast of “The Lead.”
“A White House that has had some difficulty telling the truth and has had difficulty getting up to speed on the basic competent functioning of government, and a president who seems particularly averse to any criticism – he’s called the press the enemies of the American people – they’re taking the next step in attempting to avoid checks and balances and accountability,” Tapper began.
“It’s not acceptable. In fact, it’s petulant. And indicative of a lack of basic understanding of how an adult White House functions.”
Tapper referred to Sean Spicer’s comments in December, which NCRM published just prior to this report, during which he promised to not ban or bar any news organization from the White House. Today he broke that promise, however temporarily.
Tapper accused the Trump White House of “targeting multiple media organizations,” saying it “seems to think it can punish reporters for sharing with you facts that they don’t like.Â
“So don’t misunderstand what’s going on with that rhetoric and with today’s action banning various media outlets including CNN and The New York Times. This White House does not seem to respect the idea of accountability, this White House does not seem to value an independent press. There is a word for that line of thinking. The word is ‘Un-American.'”
Watch:
Â