Last week Corey Lewandowski was confronted during the big congressional hearing on lying to MSNBC’s Ari Melber during an interview concerning conversations with President Donald Trump about “get[ting] involved with” Jeff Sessions in any way. Lewandowski said at one point, “I have no obligation to be honest with the media ’cause they’re just as dishonest as everybody else.”
He appeared on Fox News’ MediaBuzz this morning and went off on the media and CNN’s Alisyn Camerota in particular over their contentious interview.
Fox News’ Howard Kurtz opened by asking the former Trump campaign manager, “Why shouldn’t anybody now watching on the airwaves from now on say ‘well maybe this time he’s decided not to tell the truth’?”
Lewandowski claimed it was just an 8-second clip that was taken “completely out of context,” and offered this explanation for it:
“What the video clip was of was me answering a question that I hadn’t met with the special counsel yet, and the reason I said that, Howie, is because my two times in front of special counsel were shrouded in secrecy from the time they picked me up in the government vehicle to the way they brought me in through loading dock to the secure facility we spoke in, I respected the special counsel’s respect to try and keep their investigation outside the
eye of the public and while I wasn’t obligated to do that, I respected their opportunity to conduct their investigation in the manner that they wanted and I thought that it was only fair that I didn’t disclose information that they didn’t want publicly available.”
Kurtz asked why he didn’t “deflect the question at the hearing with some version of that,” noting he could have said that at the time but instead he “chose to proclaim as badge of honor, no obligation to be honest with the media.”
Lewandowski proceeded to go off on dishonesty in the media, bringing up the New York Times‘ recent Brett Kavanaugh coverage as an example.
At one point Kurtz told Lewandowski, “I’ve interviewed you many times on this program, you’re certainly adept at spinning, but you’ve never misled me.”
He went on to ask Lewandowski if he regrets making this comment “in the heat of the moment” about not feeling obliged to tell the truth to journalists.
“I regret the fact that I should have explained it better and specifically as it related to my tenure in front of the special counsel,” Lewandowski again said, “but I did that out of respect for the special counsel and the investigative process and at the advice of counsel, so we didn’t spend countless hours answering these questions in the public while
Kurtz also played video of Lewandowski’s fight with Camerota. Lewandowski said she came across as a political pundit instead of a journalist, while bringing up how CNN employs Andrew McCabe and said they’re holding him to a different standard than their own contributor.
You can watch the full interview above, via Fox News.