White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany did it again. She took a question from a reporter trying to make President Donald Trump look bad and turned it into ammunition for her to skewer more than one person with facts. This is becoming a daily occurrence, and the media don't have the wherewithal to adjust or take cover from the truth bombs McEnany seems to lob at them.
During a Wednesday press briefing at the White House NBC News' Kristen Welker made another media attempt to play the 'Gotchya' game with McEnany, asking the press secretary about a statement from the American Nurses Association (ANA) that Welker supposedly received "moments" before. Welker said that the statement from the ANA put in question Trump's assertion that nurses across the country have been taking hydroxychloroquine as a prophylaxis.
"Henry Ford Hospital is doing a study on this now where 3,000 frontline workers will be taking hydroxychloroquine to look at its use as a prophylaxis," McEnany responded. "I believe there is a few hundred, or 190 workers in Tampa General Hospital, so this is being used by some."
That's when McEnany went into overdrive. After she pointed out that there's been a lot of "apoplectic coverage" by the media concerning hydroxychloroquine, and gave a brief overview of the drug, McEnany took aim at certain members of said media and ended up focusing on CNN's Chris Cuomo.
"That being said, I’ve seen a lot of apoplectic coverage of hydroxychloroquine," McEnany continued. "You had [late-night host] Jimmy Kimmel saying the President’s 'trying to kill himself' by taking it. You had [MSNBC host] Joe Scarborough saying 'this will kill you.' [Fox News'] Neil Cavuto saying 'what have you got to lose, one thing you have to lose are lives.' And you had Chris Cuomo saying 'the President knows that hydroxychloroquine is not supported by science. He knows it has been flagged by his own people and he’s using it.'"
But McEnany didn't stop there when it came to Cuomo, even bringing his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, into the fray:
And interestingly, I found this out just before coming here. Hydroxychloroquine, of course, is an FDA-approved medication with a long proven track record for safety. And it turns out that Chris Cuomo took a less safe version of it called quinine, which the FDA removed from the market in 2006 because of its serious side-effects, including death. So really interesting to have that criticism of the President. And on that note to Chris Cuomo, I’d like to redirect him to his brother, the governor of New York, Gov. Cuomo, who has several on the record statements about hydroxychloroquine saying 'I'm an optimist, I’m hopeful about the drug, and we'll try it in New York as soon as we get it. There has been anecdotal evidence that it's promising. That's why we're going ahead.' And I have about eight other quotes from Gov. Cuomo should any of you have interest in that.
Welker, of course, wasn't satisfied with McEnany's answer and asked for evidence to her claims that frontline workers have been using hydroxychloroquine.
I'm sorry, but isn't that Welker's job as a supposed "journalist" to follow up if with the hospitals in question if she doesn't believe McEnany? That would take integrity, and it would take her focus away from trying to make Trump look bad. It would also probably make her continued push look really dumb when if she contacted the hospitals and got the same information McEnany gave.
Oh, media. Please try again.
For the full exchange between McEnany and Welker, watch below: