CNN's Jake Tapper cuts off 'obsequious' White House 'factotum' in contentious interview

CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday abruptly ended a contentious interview with White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, who was appearing on State of the Union to address Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House and President Trump's very public ire over its comment on his mental capacity and the competence of his team.

"The president is a political genius ... who took down the Bush dynasty, who took down the Clinton dynasty, who took down the entire media complex," Miller argued, defending Trump's Saturday claim to be a "very stable genius" who is "like, really smart." Miller called Wolff the "garbage author of a garbage book," accused Tapper of being "condescending," and called CNN "very fake news."

Eventually, Tapper had enough. "I get it. There's one viewer that you care about right now, and you're being obsequious, and you're being a factotum in order to please him," he said as he cut off the conversation. The "one viewer" — Trump — did in fact watch the segment and tweeted his thoughts:

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

Watch an excerpt of Miller's interview below, or see the whole thing here. Bonnie Kristian