White House Under Fire for Personal Attack on CNN Reporter Who Trump Scolded in Oval Office: ‘Doesn’t Get Any Lower’
(Screengrab via CNN)
The White House is facing fierce backlash after launching an extraordinary personal attack on CNN White House correspondent Kristen Holmes that invoked her children, shortly after President Donald Trump repeatedly scolded the reporter during a tense exchange in the Oval Office.
The controversy erupted after Holmes questioned Trump about his dealings with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, asking whether the dictator had requested that the president scale back U.S. military exercises with South Korea.
Trump bristled at the question and repeatedly told Holmes to be quiet before dismissing her as a “fake reporter.” The president also complained about her manners in the room, describing the CNN correspondent as “loud” and “boisterous.”
But the confrontation escalated further after the White House Rapid Response account targeted Holmes directly online. The official account branded the veteran correspondent “a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession” before taking the unusual step of bringing her children into the attack.
“Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question. They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive. It’s quite troubling,” the White House account declared.
The intensely personal language prompted an immediate backlash, with critics focusing in particular on the decision by an official administration account to invoke a journalist’s family following a contentious exchange.
Holmes’s colleague and fellow White House correspondent Alayna Treene led the condemnation of the administration’s response, calling it “a horrible thing to say”:
Others soon joined in:
CNN defended Holmes in reply to the White House, saying she had asked Trump “a tough, relevant, and newsworthy question” and denouncing personal attacks on journalists as “beneath the office and inconsistent with the principles of a free press.”
New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!
Comments
↓ Scroll down for comments ↓