‘You’re Playing Cute’: Spicer Clashes With NYT Reporter Over Nunes Timeline Questioning
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer got into an extended exchange with Glenn Thrush on Friday after the New York Times reporter confronted him about the timeline of Rep. Devin Nunes‘ controversial visit to the White House grounds to view intelligence information.
Thrush emphasized that he and his fellow journalists were trying to get to the bottom of “who knew what, when” regarding the Nunes issue. The reporter continued by giving his timeline of the congressman’s visit.
Spicer replied by disputing Thrush’s version of the timeline: “You jump to a ton of conclusions.” The New York Times journalist interjected, “We’re not prejudging.”
The press secretary retorted, “I’m focused on the substance of this, Glenn.” He continued by playing up the apparent lack of reporting by the Times on Evelyn Farkas‘ March 2, 2017 interview on MSNBC, where the former Obama administration official mentioned “if they found out how we knew what we knew about their––the staff, the Trump staff’s dealing with Russians, that they would try to compromise those sources and methods, meaning we would no longer have access to that intelligence.”
Thrush then wondered, “Did the chief of staff, who is, in my understanding, an exceptionally attentive gatekeeper to who comes in and out of the Oval Office… know that he [Nunes] was on the campus?” Spicer shot back, “You’re playing cute there. You’re doing two things. One is, you’re talking about the Oval Office, and the other one is the campus, right? So, no, the chief of staff does not know every single person who is on the 18 acres at any given time.”
The White House press secretary repeated his criticism of the journalist’s timeline of Nunes’ visit to the White House grounds as he continued his answer.
Thrush reworded his question: “So just to be clear: Mr. [Reince] Priebus, Mr. [Jared] Kushner, Mr. [Steve] Bannon did not have knowledge of his being on the campus having this interaction?” Spicer responded by underlining that “no one knew that he [Nunes] was coming to speak to the president. He announced that on television during a press conference.”
Watch above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
