NY Times Journo Confronts Kayleigh McEnany’s Husband for Not Wearing Mask in Briefing Room: ‘Doesn’t Matter Who He Is’

Tommy ChristopherDec 3rd, 2020, 12:38 pm
 

Major League pitcher Sean Gilmartin — spouse of White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany — was confronted by New York Times photographer Doug Mills for failing to wear a mask during a briefing.

According to pool reports from The Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson, Mills didn’t know who Gilmartin was when he tried to get him to wear a mask, but even after a White House staffer informed him, Mills said it didn’t matter:

Kayleigh McEnany’s husband, Sean Gilmartin, was present during the news briefing in the rear of the briefing room and maskless. Nearby was a reporter with First Class Fatherhood, who was not part of the COVID approved rotation, and at the end of the briefing shouted out, “You crushed it, Kayleigh!”

New York Times photographer Doug Mills politely pointed out to Gilmartin rules requiring masks be worn in White House press areas. A White House staffer who was with Gilmartin said incredulously, “Kayleigh’s husband?” The staffer and Gilmartin exited together as Mills restated the mask rules and said it doesn’t matter who he is.

Mills later confirmed to pool Gilmartin was maskless for the entirety of the briefing and he was unaware of Gilmartin’s identity when pointing out the rules.

In a later pool report, Johnson confirmed that Gilmartin was maskless for the entire briefing, and did not don one following his encounter with Mills.

McEnany herself drew attention to Gilmartin’s flouting of safety guidelines when she feuded with CNN’s Anderson Cooper over an error he made during Wednesday night’s edition of Anderson Cooper 360.

Cooper misidentified Gilmartin as the person who shouted “You crushed it, Kayleigh!” at the end of the briefing, a side note to a commentary about Gilmartin’s failure to wear a mask. McEnany tweeted the clip.

The man who did shout that cheer, podcaster Alec Lace, posted a selfie bragging about his accomplishment:

There were, however, two different audible cries at the end of the briefing, one of which came from Lace — and sounded more like “You crushed that, Katie!” — and the other of which unmistakably was directed at McEnany, but was otherwise unintelligible.

Cooper’s show later issued a correction:

After misidentifying Gilmartin as the one who shouted “You crushed it, Kayleigh!”, Cooper noted “He had been there the entire time in the cramped space, by the way not wearing a mask, even though a New York Times photographer pointed out he was breaking the rules, which were set up because in the real world, Kayleigh McEnany and several members of the press have caught the coronavirus. But hey, look, masks and social distancing, it’s also real world, so public health-y, so best practices. Who needs that?”

Gilmartin’s cousin Chad Gilmartin was among the White House staffers to test positive for COVID-19.

Watch Cooper’s commentary above via CNN.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this post inaccurately stated that Cooper wrongly characterized the original pool report as being in error. The original pool report was, indeed, erroneous, and was corrected — although the correction was not labeled. 

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