WHCA President Jon Karl Rips Kayleigh McEnany’s ‘Denial of Reality’ in Blistering Op-Ed

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ABC News White House correspondent and White House Correspondents Association President Jonathan Karl slammed Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in a blistering op-ed for The Washington Post that took issue with McEnany’s ‘denial of reality.”

The op-ed, entitled “It’s the duty of the White House press secretary to hold briefings. But not like this.“, accuses McEnany of consistently denying reality and speaking more like a “partisan political talk show” than a public official delivering information.

Karl fact-checked several recent interactions between McEnany and the press, including an exchange he had with her over Trump’s attack on NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace and defense of the Confederate flag:

Although the president had written “That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!” McEnany denied that the president had criticized NASCAR’s decision to ban the Confederate flag at its events. (For the record, Trump was wrong, and NASCAR’s ratings rose after its ban.)

I decided to follow up.

“What is the president’s position?” I asked. “Does he think NASCAR made a mistake by banning the Confederate flag?”

None of the words she said in reply answered my question. So I tried again.

“But what is his position on it?”

McEnany could have said that the tweet speaks for itself. Instead, she attacked the question.

“You’re focusing on one word at the very bottom of a tweet that’s completely taken out of context,” she said.

A few things are important here: The issue wasn’t one word, and it wasn’t taken out of context. The White House press secretary was denying the president’s own words and failing to answer legitimate questions about something he had done hours earlier. The denial of reality was frustrating, but McEnany’s silence was illuminating, as it suggested that the president’s position is so politically toxic that his spokesperson thinks she shouldn’t defend or even acknowledge it.

Karl went on to describe the duty a press secretary has to the public, and wrote “Denying reality and using the White House podium for purely political purposes is a violation of public trust.”

He concluded by writing that “I still believe it is the duty of a White House press secretary to regularly hold briefings — but not like this.”

Read the full op-ed here.