‘Calm down’: CNN’s Tapper cuts off Trump’s aide in cringeworthy interview
CNN’s Jake Tapper decided to cut off White House advisor Stephen Miller during an on-air interview in which both sides somehow lost their cool.
Tapper had Miller on to talk about Fire and Fury, the controversial book on the Trump presidency penned by Michael Wolff. The book contains a number of explosive allegations, including former strategist Steve Bannon’s claim that Trump met with Russian lawyers during his presidential campaign, as well as details of the president’s penchant for eating cheeseburgers in bed.
Miller soon took a swipe at CNN, saying, “your network has been going 24/7 with all this salacious coverage and I know that it brings a lot of you guys a lot of joy in trying to stick the knife in.”
That did not sit well with Tapper, who countered that, “No one at CNN is sticking knives in anybody, there are a lot of people in the White House quoted in the book.”
Miller went on to defend the US leader, explaining that the president was right to call himself a genius as he was, “a self-made billionaire who revolutionized reality television and who has changed the course of our politics.”
Tapper responded by saying, “I’m sure he’s watching and is glad you said that,” to which Miller hit out at him for being “condescending” and “snide.”
As the pair talked over each other, Tapper said, “I don’t know why you’re attacking me.”
“You have 24 hours of negative, anti-Trump hysterical coverage on this network, that led in recent weeks to some spectacularly embarrassing false reporting from your network,” Miller said, before asking why Tapper wouldn’t give him three minutes to tell the truth about Trump.
“Because this is my show and I don’t want to do that,” Tapper said before asking Miller to “calm down.”
The two continued to talk over each other. Miller repeated a number of talking points about CNN’s recent erroneous reporting and Trump’s genius and campaigning abilities, while Tapper attempted to ask a question and again accused Miller of trying to please Trump.
“I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time,” Tapper eventually said, before turning to face the camera and starting to introduce the next news item.
READ MORE: ‘The man who put the GOP on TV’: How Roger Ailes weaponized network news
While this isn’t the first time a CNN anchor has lost their cool when interviewing Trump aides, in this instance, Tapper and Miller were both sitting across a table in the studio, so when Tapper started to ignore Miller, he was forced to talk over his guest, who remained at the table. Eventually, Miller’s mic was seemingly cut.
Trump watched the interview, and tweeted, “Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!”
Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018
Tapper responded to the president’s tweet, linking to the interview, saying, “Here’s the interview; judge for yourself.”
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