White House senior aide Sebastian Gorka came out swinging Wednesday night in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. Gorka started out by denying CNN's descriptions of a "crisis" and "a bunker mentality" in the White House following the release of Donald Trump Jr.'s emails confirming he'd met with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the presidential election in the hopes of securing compromising information about Hillary Clinton. "I actually work in the West Wing. I work in the White House. It is absolutely nothing of the kind," Gorka said.
Gorka then switched to offense, laying into CNN for pushing "fake news." "I'm sad to see CNN fall to this. I know you want salacious, sensational coverage for your ratings so your corporate sponsors and owners will have more money but that's not media. That's not reportage. It's just fake news," Gorka said.
Cooper refused to bite. "I'm just going to ignore the insults because I don't think it really gets us anywhere," Cooper said. He then turned back to the news, asking about President Trump's tweet claiming that when the "Fake Media" uses anonymous sources, "often times those sources are made up." Cooper asked whether that still stood, considering Trump's son recently verified anonymously sourced reporting when he published his own emails.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
But Gorka wasn't done attacking CNN, bringing up a correction the network once had to make. Cooper agreed CNN's "reporting was wrong" and noted it was corrected, before trying once again to get back to the topic of Trump Jr.'s emails and the president's recent Twitter attack on anonymous sources.
Gorka responded by lauding Trump Jr.'s "transparency" and slamming the "fake news industrial complex" for giving the Russia story "legs."
Watch the exchange below. Becca Stanek
-
The Week Unwrapped: Can bullfighting win over young SpaniardsPodcast Plus, is online fandom inherently unhealthy? And is Putin’s economy running out of gas?
-
Heirs and Graces: an ‘enthralling’ deep dive into the decline of nobilityThe Week Recommends Eleanor Doughty explores the ‘bizarre fascination’ with the British aristocracy
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A monstrous pumpkin, a sumo showdown, and more
-
Pentagon reporters turn in badges after refusing rulesSpeed Read They refused to sign a restrictive new press policy imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
-
Supreme Court points to gutting Voting Rights Actspeed read States would no longer be required to consider race when drawing congressional maps
-
Trump says he authorized covert CIA ops in VenezuelaSpeed Read He is also considering military strikes inside the country
-
‘Vile, racist’ leaked chats roil Young RepublicansSpeed Read Leaders of Young Republican groups made racist, antisemitic and violent comments in private chats
-
Trump ties $20B Argentina bailout to Milei votesspeed read Trump will boost Argentina’s economy — if the country’s right-wing president wins upcoming elections
-
News organizations reject Pentagon restrictionsSpeed Read The proposed policy is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest move to limit press access at the Pentagon
-
Trump declares end to Gaza war, ‘dawn’ of new MideastSpeed Read Hamas freed the final 20 living Israeli hostages and Israel released thousands of Palestinian detainees
-
Trump DOJ indicts New York AG Letitia JamesSpeed Read New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted as Trump’s Justice Department pursues charges against his political opponents
