A Starr Bout, An Owens Ouch | Live from the Green Room

CNN’s Barbara Starr stood out during an already tough Pentagon briefing when she hammered John Kirby on why they won’t give specific numbers on how many Americans have been evacuated from Afghanistan so far.

Kirby repeatedly blamed difficulties in ascertaining the number of U.S. citizens in Afghanistan for their lack of specifics, saying the country is in chaos and stating several times that some people don’t register their presence in country, as is their right. The Biden administration has been imprecise on how many Americans and Afghan refugees are still trying to flee Kabul, and when Kirby called on Starr, she prefaced her question by saying “I really don’t understand this.”

“My question is: can this administration tell the American people how many Americans it has evacuated from Afghanistan? And if you cannot, can you please explain — not the denominator — why can’t you just say the number?” she asked.

“We are going to leave it at several thousand right now,” Kirby said as Starr pressed. He conceded it’s “not a satisfying answer” but defended himself by saying “the number literally changes almost by the hour.”

“So does everything else,” Starr countered.

“I understand, Barbara,” Kirby said. “We’re gonna leave it at several thousand for right now.”

Starr followed up by pressing Kirby on what the military is doing to rescue Americans from outside the area they have occupied around Kabul airport. She also asked if the military is taking steps to destroy any equipment they can’t retrieve.

And her line about everyone asking follow-up questions was pretty great, too.

Former Republican congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik is suing Candace Owens for $20 million, alleging that the conservative commentator defamed her with multiple false claims of illegal activity.

The lawsuit, first reported by The Baltimore Sun, revolves around a 44 minute Instagram live video where Owens made a series of criminal allegations against Klacik. These charges include tax and campaign finance fraud, money laundering, doing drugs, and working as the “madame” of a strip club.

Law&Crime (Mediaite’s sister website) obtained court documents from the lawsuit Klacik has filed against Owens, and Klacik’s lawyer is arguing that the video was an extension of a “defamatory smear campaign” Owens has waged against his client.

Klacik’s attorney, Jacob Frenkel, further argues that Klacik has lost out on a book deal, media appearances and other financial, political opportunities because of Owens’ claims.

“Ms. Klacik and her family continue to be harassed daily, with Ms. Klacik specifically receiving harmful and degrading comments because of the defamatory claims made by the Defendant,” the lawsuit states. “Defendant has defamed and injured Ms. Klacik; accordingly, Ms. Klacik initiates this action to vindicate her rights under civil law and seek compensatory and punitive damages as a result of Defendant’s conduct.”

The lawsuit comes after another public spat Klacik and Owens had recently when President Joe Biden officially made Juneteenth a federal holiday.

This was accompanied by other social media dustups — with Klacik expressing interest in taking their feud to court.

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