CNN’s Jake Tapper fact-checked his colleagues who were attacking White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
Tapper offered a rare defense of the Trump administration from someone from a left-leaning media outlet.
According to Fox News:
McEnany reiterated President Trump‘s strong stance on wanting children to be going back to school in the fall amid a fiery debate about how educators can prevent the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
“The science should not stand in the way of this, but as Dr. Scott Atlas said — I thought this was a good quote, ‘Of course, we can do it. Everyone else in the Western world, our peer nations are doing it. We are the outlier here,'” McEnany said, quoting the former Stanford Medical Center neurology chief.
After playing a clip of that exchange on his show, Tapper corrected CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who knocked the press secretary for having an “alternative facts kind of moment.”
“If I could just say, Sanjay,” Tapper interjected. “I think she was just trying to say that the science shouldn’t stand in the way because the science is on our side. I don’t know that all of the science is on their side- and certainly, this White House, their respect for science knows bounds, let’s put it that way, but I think that’s what she was getting at.”
.@drsanjaygupta on WH assertion that science is on the side of opening schools pic.twitter.com/Js8EZBQ7aK
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) July 16, 2020
CNN’s Jim Acosta chimed in too:
The White House Press Secretary on Trump's push to reopen schools: "The science should not stand in the way of this."
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 16, 2020
Acosta’s tweet that omitted key pieces of McEnany’s quote was shared over 40,000 times by many in the media and CNN alike.
Tapper responded:
Folks read the ENTIRE McEnany comment about "the science should not stand in the way" of opening schools. She's arguing that the science is on the side of those who want to open them, she cites a JAMA study. I'm not taking a position on the matter but be fair.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 16, 2020
Mic dropped!