White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer read press clips for nine-straight minutes on Thursday to make a point that the media picks and choses what topics are covered.
The filibuster-like reading of various news stories was in response to a question from ABC’s Jonathan Karl regarding President Trump accusing former President Obama of wiretapping him during last year’s campaign, despite a total lack of evidence.
“It’s interesting to me… when one entity says one thing… you guys cover it ad nauseam,” Spicer said about the Senate Intelligence Committee declaring there is no evidence to support Trump’s tweet.
“When Devin Nunes came out and said there was no connect that he saw to Russia, crickets,” Spicer said. “You don’t wanna cover the stuff… You chose not to cover that part.”
To prove his “point,” Spicer went on to read headlines from news outlets, including Fox News and the New York Times.
When Karl tried to interrupt, Spicer asked, “Where was your passion and where was your concern when they all said there was no connection to Russia?”
Spicer also got heated with CNN’s Jim Acosta, but the two shared a laugh when the press secretary said he misspoke when saying the CNN reporter has “zero intelligence.” Spicer corrected himself, saying he meant “zero intelligence clearance.”
“Give me some credit, Sean,” Acosta said as the room erupted with laughter.
CBS’s Major Garrett asked Spicer if he was OK with anonymous sources, because some of the clips Spicer read aloud contained anonymous sources.
“It’s interesting, when it comes to the Russia story and the on-the-record sources who have been briefed by the FBI, continue to conclude that there is nothing there, you guys continue to fall back on these anonymous sources to perpetuate a false narrative,” Spicer said. “Yet when it comes to us… you then criticize anonymous sources.”