CNN’s Kasie Hunt Insists That Trump ‘Really Loves The Press Pool’ Despite His Ban On Her Network

CNN’s Kasie Hunt insisted that President Donald Trump “really loves” the White House press corps, despite his ban on her network, as well as MS NOW and Politico, for reporting “fake news.”

On Saturday, Trump made good on his threat to bar the outlets’ reporters from doing their jobs at the White House.

Hunt discussed the ban with former White House Correspondents’ Association president Jeff Mason on Saturday.

“One other thing that I think is worth noting about this president, Jeff, and we saw it in some of the books that were written after he lost in 2020, is that he actually loves the press pool that covers him, right?” Hunt said. “Because when you are president of the United States, you snap your fingers and all of a sudden appear people who can tell everyone in the world, really, what you are saying, what you would like to say. And there was some reporting that he went looking for that pool after he had left office and was told that it was unavailable to him.”

She then asked, “What power does that give the other television networks as they decide how to handle this situation?”

“Well, I’ll share an anecdote,” Mason said. “When I was president of the Correspondents’ Association at the beginning of his first term, there were threats before he came into office about what he and his team were going to do with the press, including kicking us out of the press room, kicking us off of Air Force One. And we negotiated with them about that. And I was very proud that we, for the first term, maintained our presence in both places.”

He continued, “The reason I mention that is, I think his team learned very quickly after he became president, that he really liked to be able to say, ‘Bring the pool in.’ So he got really used to the fact that reporters being so close — and we were talking about that physical closeness, proximity earlier — was really useful to him, and he would hold and still does, um, long press conferences or gaggles, as we call them in small places.”

“When you see him standing in that door and it’s kind of noisy, that’s the back cab, the press cabin, of Air Force One!” Hunt exclaimed.

“That’s exactly right,” Mason said. “He got used to it. And then when he was out of office and wanted it back, we weren’t there.”

Watch above via CNN.

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