Sean Spicer just got live fact-checked by CNN's communications team

During Tuesday's White House press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer inaccurately claimed that CNN issued a retraction of its allegations that Kellyanne Conway is potentially not a credible interview subject. Spicer's comments were instantly refuted by the network's communications team.

It all started when, over the weekend, CNN turned down an interview with Kellyanne Conway after being offered the top Trump aide by the White House in lieu of Vice President Mike Pence. The New York Times reported that the network was concerned about having Conway on due to questions about her credibility. On Tuesday, Yahoo News' Hunter Walker asked Spicer if "the White House is willing to offer alternative representatives to networks that refuse to work with specific spokespeople?"

"Well, frankly, I think that — my understanding is that they've retracted that," Spicer said. "They've walked that back or denied it. However you want to put it."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

CNN immediately responded:

President Trump has also repeatedly claimed that The New York Times apologized to subscribers about their "bad coverage" of him, despite such assertions earning a firm "false" from Politifact. And on Monday, CNN Communications also corrected Kellyanne Conway when she suggested that she did not do CNN's Sunday show because "of family." Conway "was offered to [Jake Tapper's show State of the Union] on Sunday by the White House. We passed. Those are the facts," CNN said.