White House aide Sebastian Gorka peppers CNN with insults as he insists there's nothing 'untoward' about Trump Jr.'s emails
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
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
‘The economics of WhatsApp have been mysterious for years’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Will Democrats impeach Kristi Noem?Today’s Big Question Centrists, lefty activists also debate abolishing ICE
-
Is a social media ban for teens the answer?Talking Point Australia is leading the charge in banning social media for people under 16 — but there is lingering doubt as to the efficacy of such laws
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’