Still irritated by President Trump taking no questions during his first appearance in the White House press room on Thursday, CNN Tonight host Don Lemon was so exasperated that he started making up words. “Can you believe this day? Oh, my gosh. April, before we get into any of this, were you there when the fake briefing....The ‘friefing’ [was called],” he asked CNN political analyst April Ryan.
And according to her, not only was it to “upstage” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Trump held the briefing because of recent CNN reporting.
Recounting where she was when she was notified about the impending briefing, Ryan claimed she knew deep down in her “spirit” that Trump would be there. “And I knew, I knew, I said for them to hurry up and pull something together like that, I said the President's coming out. And I knew in my spirit that he was coming out. And sure enough, he came,” she sensationalized. Seriously.
According to Ryan, the briefing was “interesting” because not only was it designed to “upstage” Pelosi, “[b]ut it was also to answer the reports that were on CNN.” “Remember those reports this week that have been on CNN that the president has not made it in the briefing room at all in two years? So he hit two birds with one stone,” she insisted before adding, “But more so to upstage Nancy Pelosi.”
“As soon as I heard it, I said stunt, stunt, stunt. It's going to be exactly like the President Obama was not born in this country birther thing,” Lemon exclaimed.
A short time later, Lemon elaborated on the new word he invented. “So I call it, April, as I said, a 'friefing' because it's a fake briefing. Right? The President had “friefing” today but Speaker Pelosi held a real briefing,” he chided. “It wasn't even a briefing,” Ryan tagged on.
This is like that “Nanchuck” nickname nonsense he invented for the Pelosi-Chuck Schumer duo late last year.
Convinced Pelosi held the “real” press briefing on Thursday, Lemon touted a soundbite of Pelosi joking about allocating only $1 for Trump’s border wall after being prompted by CNN reporter Manu Raju. “She was joking obviously. But she's, you know, willing to give the President exactly one dollar toward this wall. Let's get real here. She said in so many words that she's not budging,” he said.
“Well, he doesn't have leverage, but he's going to fight every way he can to try to smear Nancy Pelosi as well as Chuck Schumer,” Ryan responded.
In addition to having Ryan on the panel, Lemon also had foul-mouthed Never Trumper Rick Wilson on. Inventing his own word, Wilson suggested Trump held the briefing because he saw Congress get “Pelosi-fied.”
“And you know, look, today's a day of big symbolism. And Donald Trump's symbolism was, ‘I am a petty child and I'm going to go out and stomp my feet and complain about my wall not being funded,’” Wilson ranted. His suggestion was ironic because that’s how he and his fellow never-Trumpers have been acting since Election Day 2016.
So, CNN is so self-absorbed that they want to take partial credit for Trump holding a “fake briefing.” This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN Tonight
January 3, 2019
10:12:46 p.m. EasternDON LEMON: Democrats now firmly in charge in the House as a new Congress is sworn in. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats voting tonight to reopen the government, but President Trump digging in his heels, demanding billions of dollars for a border wall. So who's going to blink first?
(…)
LEMON: Can you believe this day? Oh, my gosh. April, before we get into any of this, were you there when the fake briefing -- or did you -- because not everybody sits around waiting for a briefing. The “friefing”.
APRIL RYAN: Well, actually -- I left. I left to go to CNN to be on earlier. And all of a sudden I'm sitting waiting to go on with Wolf and they said -- I said when was it called? And I knew, I knew, I said for them to hurry up and pull something together like that, I said the President's coming out. And I knew in my spirit that he was coming out. And sure enough he came -- she opened the door, he didn't come out, and then ultimately he came out a few seconds later. And it -- the interesting piece is it was meant to upstage Nancy Pelosi --
LEMON: Of course.
RYAN: -- But it was also to answer the reports that were on CNN -- Remember those reports this week that have been on CNN that the president has not made it in the briefing room at all in two years? So he hit two birds with one stone. But more so to upstage Nancy Pelosi.
LEMON: As soon as I heard it, I said stunt, stunt, stunt. It's going to be exactly like the President Obama was not born in this country birther thing. And I was completely right, Rick. There it was.
RICK WILSON: Absolutely. And look, he knew that this was the moment where Congress, you know, got Pelosi-fied and changed in terms of what the fundamental chemistry down the street was going to be for the rest of his term. And he wanted to do anything he could as a reality TV star to go in and step on the message she was putting out and the theme that they were trying to push forward today.
And you know, look, today's a day of big symbolism. And Donald Trump's symbolism was, “I am a petty child and I'm going to go out and stomp my feet and complain about my wall not being funded.” I think right now the impasse -- the Trump people don't understand the depth of the problem they've got right now.
(…)
LEMON: So I call it, April, as I said, a “friefing” because it's a fake briefing. Right? The President had “friefing” today but Speaker Pelosi held a real briefing.
RYAN: It wasn't even a briefing.
LEMON: I know. It was a political thing. With union members who had supported him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think everybody gets what happened. And hopefully the media won't be suckers again and just we'll monitor next time and then go to it afterwards if any news comes out or if he starts to take questions.
RYAN: It was bad. Yeah.
LEMON: So, Nancy Pelosi held a real press conference today. She took this question from Manu Raju. Watch this.
MANU RAJU: Is there a situation in which you would accept even a dollar of wall funding for this president in order to reopen the government?
NANCY PELOSI: A dollar? One dollar? Yeah, one dollar.
LEMON: She was joking obviously. But she's, you know, willing to give the President exactly one dollar toward this wall. Let's get real here. She said in so many words that she's not budging. Now that Speaker Pelosi is in charge, doesn't the President have a lot less leverage in this budget slowdown -- or showdown, I should say?
RYAN: Well, he doesn't have leverage, but he's going to fight every way he can to try to smear Nancy Pelosi as well as Chuck Schumer.
(…)
