Beclowning himself once again during the so-called “Keeping The Honest” segment of Wednesday’s AC360, CNN host Anderson Cooper used his opening diatribe to lash out at not just White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, but her husband too, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Sean Gilmartin. Showing a picture of him at the day’s briefing, Cooper tried to shame him for not wearing a mask and lied about him loudly cheering on his wife.
And in an effort to keep Cooper honest, McEnany subsequently took to Twitter to call him out for spreading “Fake News.”
Suggesting that McEnany and the rest of the White House didn’t live in “the real world, the one we are living and dying in,” Cooper threw a hissy fit about the Press Secretary saying that if radical liberals could riot and destroy (egged on by CNN) without worrying about the virus, then average Americans could celebrate Christmas together.
“As she left the briefing room, a voice was heard to say, ‘You crushed it, Kayleigh.’ It was her husband. He’d been there the entire time in the cramped space,” Cooper claimed. A video of Gilmartin standing in the back of the room with his arms crossed flashed on the screen. A circle appeared around him, like CNN was trying to point out the second shooter on the grassy knoll.
Throwing out his pompous “keeping them honest” tagline, Cooper ignored the fact that Gilmartin was already exposed to the virus after his wife had contracted it and railed against them anyway:
By the way, not wearing a mask even though a New York Times photographer pointed out he was breaking the rules, which were set up because, in the real world, Kayleigh McEnany and several members of the press have caught the coronavirus.
But hey look, masks, social distancing, it’s all so real world, so public healthy, so best practices, who needs that? Apparently not at the radiology herd immunity guy, remember him? He’s already quit. Keeping them honest.
About an hour after Cooper’s childish ranting and face-making, the Press Secretary put out an official tweet calling him out for his lies and pointed to the White House pool report that documented what happened.
FAKE NEWS from @CNN that is disproven by the official White House Pool Report written by a reporter.
— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) December 3, 2020
WATCH @andersoncooper FALSELY claim my husband cheered for me at the White House Press Briefing & read the pool report below noting it was actually a reporter cheering! pic.twitter.com/MmpAIBxT7S
“FAKE NEWS from @CNN that is disproven by the official White House Pool Report written by a reporter,” she wrote. “WATCH @andersoncooper FALSELY claim my husband cheered for me at the White House Press Briefing & read the pool report below noting it was actually a reporter cheering!”
In a follow-up tweet, McEnany cited the pool report written by Chris Johnson of The Washington Blade. “Kayleigh McEnany’s husband, Sean Gilmartin, was present during the news briefing in the rear of the briefing room and maskless,” he wrote. “Nearby was a reporter with First Class Fatherhood, who was not part of the COVID approved rotation, and at the end of the briefing shouted out, ‘You crushed it, Kayleigh!”
At least someone was keeping them honest, and it wasn’t CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360
December 2, 2020
8:02:02 p.m. Eastern(…)
ANDERSON COOPER: At today’s briefing, another senior CDC official put it bluntly, “The best way,” he said, “to protect yourself and others is to postpone travel and stay home.”
That's tonight's top story here in the real world, the one we are living and dying in. In the President's world, meanwhile, where the White House has a string of indoor celebrations ahead, and which is on its third or fourth COVID outbreak depending on how you count, here’s the reaction.
[Cuts to video]
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The CDC director, today, said that the next few months could be among the worst public health months in American history. I wonder, does the White House -- is it setting a good example for the public for the White House to be holding in-person holidays parties at a time when the CDC and other organizations are asking Americans to forgo those kinds of celebrations for their own safety?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY: Yeah. So, you know, if you can loot businesses, burn down buildings, engage n protests, you can also go to a Christmas party. You can celebrate the holiday of Christmas and you can do it responsibly. Which is why the East Wing has noted that they’ll have smaller guest lists, masks are going to be available, social distancing is going to be encouraged, hand sanitizing stations among other measures. But we will engage in the celebration of Christmas and there will be a Hanukkah celebration as well.
[Cuts back to live]
COOPER: As she left the briefing room, a voice was heard to say, "You crushed it Kayleigh." It was her husband. He’d been there the entire time in the cramped space. By the way, not wearing a mask even though a New York Times photographer pointed out he was breaking the rules, which were set up because, in the real world, Kayleigh McEnany and several members of the press have caught the coronavirus.
But hey look, masks, social distancing, it’s all so real world, so public healthy, so best practices, who needs that? Apparently not at the radiology herd immunity guy, remember him? He’s already quit. Keeping them honest.
(…)
