When she made her debut as press secretary last Friday, President Donald Trump’s new spokeswoman, Kayleigh McEnany, vowed to always be honest with the mainstream media.
“I will never lie to you,” McEnany told reporters. “You have my word on that.”
At the end of her press briefing Wednesday, reporters got a taste of exactly what McEnany meant.
“Kayleigh, in a previous life, before you were press secretary you worked for the [Trump] campaign. You made a comment, I believe on Fox, where you said, ‘President Trump will not allow the coronavirus to come to this country,” a reporter pointed out at the end of the press briefing.
“Given what has happened since then: Would you like to take that back?” he asked.
McEnany was ready.
“Well first, let me note that I was asked a question on Fox Business about the president’s travel restrictions,” McEnany began her response. “I noted what the intent behind those travel restrictions, which is: We will not see coronavirus come here. We will not see terrorism come here, referring to an earlier set of travel restrictions.”
What she said next left the reporters in the room complaining that she’d prepared too well.
“I guess I would turn the question back on the media and ask similar questions. Does Vox want take back that they proclaimed the coronavirus would not be a deadly pandemic?” McEnany asked.
“Does The Washington Post want to take back that they told Americans to get a grip, and that the flu was bigger than the coronavirus?” she continued. “Does The Washington Post, likewise, want to take back that our brains are causing us to exaggerate the danger of the coronavirus?”
“Does The New York Times want to take back that fear of the virus may be spreading faster than the virus itself?” McEnany asked. “Does NPR want to take back that the flu was a much bigger threat than the coronavirus?”
“And finally, once again The Washington Post, would they like to take back that the government should not respond aggressively to the coronavirus?” she concluded.
Reporters in the room were left scrambling while McEnany dismissed them.
“I’ll leave you with those questions, and maybe you’ll have some answers in a few days,” she said as she walked off the stage.
Video of the exchange quickly went viral, getting tens of thousands of views on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook —
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfJAeIP9Ngs
McEnany’s performance as press secretary has already drawn praise from other Republicans who have held the job, including former press secretary Sean Spicer, who called her first press briefing a “Great debut.”
Ari Fleischer, press secretary for President George W. Bush, said being a successful presidential spokesperson requires both substance and style.
“It matters how you come across on TV,” Fleischer said on Fox News Channel after her first briefing on Friday. “On the substance, she had facts. She had statistics. Oh boy, is she articulate.”
He added: “On the style, I mean she was just comfortable. You always listen for: Is there a hiccup in the voice? Is she nervous? Is there something about being in that room where you think the pressure might get to her? She was cool and calm throughout it all.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article