Do not mess with Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. At Tuesday’s White House press briefing McEnany put CNN’s senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta in his place after he attempted to paint Trump in a negative light by using a partial quote from an Ohio campaign rally regarding the coronavirus.
Acosta tried to twist Trump’s words by alleging that the president said the Coronavirus “affects virtually nobody.” The correspondent conveniently left out the remainder of Trump’s quote which clarifies the fact that while children can contract the virus the mortality rate is virtually incalculable.
“I think he was talking about younger Americans, He said it ‘affects virtually nobody,” Acosta said. “But he said to Bob Woodward that ‘it’s not just older people, it’s young people, too,’ at 200,000 deaths shouldn’t be telling people the truth about this virus at his rallies?”
McEnany quickly called out the reporter for grossly taking the comment out of context before reading Trump’s entire quote from the Ohio rally.
.@PressSec @KayleighMcEnany just obliterated Jim @Acosta. As usual, listen to how Acosta wasn't really asking questions, but instead offering a commentary blaming Trump for COVID deaths (i.e. saying he's committed murder) pic.twitter.com/UT7LH4dL5l
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 22, 2020
“You are taking it out of context because you’re making an assertion that he’s not giving critical information when, in fact, he is and I will underscore exactly what he said,” McEnany said. “He said this, ‘You know, in some states thousands of people, and they’ve had nobody young, below the age of 18 like nobody. They have a strong immune system.’ That is factually true, you can go to the America Academy of Pediatrics website, the Children’s Hospital Association and they list a number of states that have had zero pediatric deaths.”
McEnany was able to smack the reporter down when he repeatedly interrupts without a blink by listing multiple states with reports no pediatric deaths from COVID-19.
“Yes, it is exactly as I read it to you, that in several states, they have had zero pediatric deaths. I have the entire list here: Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, and the list goes on. As you may not know, Jim, the COVID has a .01 mortality rate for people under the age of 18, so it is not a disease that affects young people in the same way as older people, which is the exact point the president was making last night,” McEnany says effectively silencing Acosta.
Nice try Jim, but you’re no match for Kayleigh McEnany.
