Lee Pays Attention, Carlson Does Not | Winners & Losers in Today’s Green Room

CNN White House correspondent MJ Lee pressed White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about a remark President Joe Biden made to reporters on a Texas tarmac Tuesday.

As the president posed for photos upon his arrival at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base in Westworth Village, Texas on Tuesday, he responded to one reporter’s queries about rising gas prices by saying: “Can’t do much right now. Russia is responsible.”

At Wednesday’s White House press briefing, Ms. Lee asked Ms. Psaki about that exchange, and contrasted it with the president’s remarks on mitigating the price increases from earlier that day. Psaki chalked that contrast up to the rushed setting for the question, and reiterated Biden’s earlier remarks:

“The president said yesterday, ‘I’m going to do everything I can to minimize Putin’s price hike here at home.’” And then hours later as he was getting off the Air Force One, he said, I ‘can’t do much about that right now,'” said Lee. “‘Can’t do much right now.’ That was the exact words from the president.”

“For anyone that might have been confused seeing the two statements from the president within a couple of hours, what would be your explanation? Does the president believe there is action that he can take to address gas prices, or does he believe there’s not much that can be done?” she asked.

Psaki argued that you can’t expect a comprehensive answer from the “short gaggles” as he goes from place to place. She said, “But the oil markets — oil markets are global. Right? And it is all about meeting the supply demands that are out there.”

This is the kind of question at the briefing that a reporter, in today’s environment, can get hassled for asking. Much media coverage has been dedicated to “fact-checking” the idea that the Biden administration has any ability to affect fuel prices or even inflation.

But it’s exactly the kind of question that average Americans want to hear asked of the White House. It was a short pair of comments from the president, but Lee noticed the apparent discrepancy and didn’t let it go. This is what accountability questions are all about.

Bryce Mitchell, the UFC fighter who has been celebrated by Tucker Carlson for his comments on Ukraine, believes school shootings are staged by the U.S. government.

The star fighter known as “Thug Nasty” recently drew the attention of social media for voicing his thoughts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine during a UFC press conference. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, a regular guest on Tucker Carlson Tonight, shared the clip on Twitter.

The clip features Mitchell saying he won’t go anywhere to fight wars for politicians, but that if the war comes to Arkansas, he will “will dig my boots in the Arkansas soil, and I will fight for the people that I love.”

Carlson praised Mitchell’s comments on Monday night, and the fighter appeared on his show on Tuesday, where he reiterated his pledge to not go to Ukraine and fight in its war against Russia.

“How do you get to be so honest when everyone else is afraid to say what they think?” Carlson asked Thug Nasty.

Mitchell went on to accuse “our leaders” and “a lot of these elites” of treason. He did not elaborate, but such conspiratorial thinking isn’t new for the MMA fighter.

Last month, ahead of his fight at UFC Vegas 49 against Edson Barboza, Mitchell appeared for an interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.

There, the two got onto the subject of school shootings.

“My number one explanation is the government is in a lot of these,” Mitchell said. “They have an agenda, they set up mass shootings and then blame the AR-15s. And say ‘Oh, now we’re coming to take your
AR-15s’.”

Previously, Mitchell said he believed the government created Covid-19.

“I think the coronavirus was made by the government. I think the good government made the damn virus. I think that they infected the people on purpose to cause some type of chaos,” he said.

“How do you get to be so honest” is what Carlson asked his favorite MMA fighter who thinks school shootings and coronavirus were staged.

We have a question, too: Really??