Wednesday during the White House press briefing, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany schooled CNN’s Jim Acosta after he criticized the Trump campaign for the upcoming rally, which is set to take place Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“Kayleigh, in the last day, 96 people in Tulsa have contracted the coronavirus– wondering about this rally coming up on Saturday. Will the president or the White House take responsibility if people get sick and catch the coronavirus at this rally on Saturday?” Acosta asked McEnany.
The press secretary told Jim Acosta: “So the campaign has taken certain measures to make sure this is a safe rally– temperature checks, hand sanitizers, and masks, so we are taking precautions.”
Acosta then asked, “But you’re not requiring people to wear masks?”, to which McEnany told the CNN correspondent: “They will be given a mask. It’s up to them whether to make that decision. The CDC guidelines are recommend, but not required.”
He also argued that the “CDC guidelines suggest people practice social distancing”, adding the people at the rally “are not going to be able to practice social distancing at a rally with thousands of people.”
“So aren’t you in essence bringing people to a rally where they won’t be abiding by those guidelines?” Acosta asked.
McEnany told Acosta that is a “personal choice to individuals as to what to do”.
“But if we want to talk about internal coherence, I believe that the media needs to work on internal coherence,” the press secretary recommended as she held up the front page of a New York Post headline, which displayed thousands of protesters, who had gathered in front of the Brooklyn Museum in New York City over the weekend, for a Black Trans Lives Matter rally and march.
“This wonderful New York Post story … good job to the New York Post– highlights the hypocrisy of the media, where this is okay,” McEnany said, showing the thousands of protesters in New York, then noted the other picture which was side by side. “This is not okay, Trump rallies,” she noted.
“It’s really remarkable and I think the American people have taken notice,” McEnany said, then proceeded to highlight NBC News, who praised the Brooklyn protest but warned of COVID-19 for President Trump’s upcoming Tulsa rally.
Daily Caller
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.@PressSec holds up the front page of the New York Post showing large crowds gathering to protest after Jim Acosta criticizes the campaign for having a rally in Tulsa.
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Kayleigh McEnany on Trump rallies: “It is our decision that the media should not be making decisions about their guidelines to us about social distancing based on political ideology or what they think is the worthiness or the cause.”
She held up the New York Post headline for the press to see again.
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.@PressSec calls out the Media double standard on social distancing concerns for protests vs. Trump rallies.
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(Continued Below)
McEnany referenced the thousands of protesters who gathered in Brooklyn over the weekend:
ABC News
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Thousands gathered in front of the Brooklyn Museum in NYC for a Black Trans Lives Matter rally and march. https://abcn.ws/3e3eRoe
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NBC News’ headlines that the press secretary brought attention to:
Mark Hemingway
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Little over an hour apart.
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(Related: Trump Supporters Begin Lining Up For Tulsa Rally As Ticket Signups Pass One Million)
