At Tuesday’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer added another lie to the feud between CNN and the administration.
Last week, the White House snubbed CNN when it invited Vice President Pence to join all of the Sunday morning talk shows except CNN’s State of the Union. CNN was only offered access to White House Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway, who the previous week had coined “alternative facts” and had just invented the “Bowling Green massacre.”
The network declined — partly because of the snub but also because of “serious questions about her credibility.”
Conway proceeded to claim that she could do no live Sunday shows because of family commitments.
False. I could do no live Sunday shows this week BC of family. Plus, I was invited onto CNN today & tomorrow. CNN Brass on those emails https://t.co/LVOUWIytLK
— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) February 6, 2017
CNN didn’t cave, and stood by its version of events:
. @KellyannePolls was offered to SOTU on Sunday by the White House. We passed. Those are the facts.
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) February 6, 2017
At Tuesday’s briefing, Spicer was asked directly about CNN’s decision to decline to have Conway on. He responded that CNN had “retracted” or “denied” that claim, insisting that Conway is “a very trusted aid of the President” and that “any characterization otherwise is insulting.” (Video via Raw Story.)
CNN responded quickly on Twitter. No, the network had never changed its story. Conway was offered; CNN refused; “those are the facts.”
In response to @PressSec's comment today: pic.twitter.com/2IdzeyDEU5
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) February 7, 2017
What’s clear is that the Trump administration is trying to lie its way out of its lies. Conway lied about the Bowling Green massacre and now Spicer is lying about CNN stating on the record that the network has concerns about her credibility.
In January, CNN broke the story that the then-President-elect was briefed on allegations that Russia has “compromising personal and financial information” regarding Trump. Since then, Trump has repeatedly denounced the network as “fake news.”