Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / The 'best' new press secretary Zacharia stumbles in first White House briefing

Transcript

The 'best' new press secretary Zacharia stumbles in first White House briefing · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's go to our panel, though.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: Joining us, former senior State Department and CIA official Ned Price.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: He was also a special assistant to President Obama and
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: the National Security Council staff. Hofstra University law professor and
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: author of Who Decides Who Decides on Substack, James Sample.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: MSNOW senior national security reporter David Road and staff writer
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: at The Atlantic and MSNOW political contributor Mark Leibovich.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: We have a lot to get to.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: We've got Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is now out of a job.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: And we also have Katie Zakaria.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Zakaria. Zakaria.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Fareed's going to— the Fareed Zakaria is in my head. Can
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: I talk to you about what it takes to be
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: a press secretary?
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: And that is somebody who's been in that role.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: Look, I try and treat all of my successors, whether
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: at the State Department, Defense Department, or the White House,
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: with kid gloves. Because, look, it's a really tough job.
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: And I don't want to be the one out there
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: throwing potshots at them. But I'll make a couple general points.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: Number one, it's very easy to go on Fox News,
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: to go on CNN, or no offense, to go on
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: MSNOW and to say things that you personally believe. I
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: can take a look at my notebook and some notes
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: that I've jotted down, and that tends to get you
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: through a two-minute hit on cable news.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: We tend to not accept conspiracy theory and outright.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Lies on this network.
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: On this network, there tends to be a higher standard, absolutely.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: But it's a very different job when you're standing behind
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: the podium at an official conference department or agency of
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: the United States government with the flag behind your shoulder,
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: because in those instances, you're not spouting off what you
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: believe personally. You're not praising the dear leader in this case,
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: as the new White House press secretary so often did
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: on Fox News.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: You're not politicking. You're not politicking at all.
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: In fact, it's illegal, as the law professor here can
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: tell us, to politic from behind the podium. What you
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: are responsible for is espousing and clearly articulating the considered
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: policy views of the United States government. And for the
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: new press secretary to rush out. Remember, she was just
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: named on Friday. It's been 48 hours or so since
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: her name surfaced as the new White House press secretary.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: Had she called me up and no spoiler alert, she
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: did not for advice. I would have told her, you know,
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: maybe take a week, take 10 days, take out briefing books,
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: learn about foreign policy, really study the issues that matter.
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: you have not spoken to in the past. She did
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: not take that advice. She rushed out. She might have
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: assumed that going before the White House podium was the
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: same as going before a Fox News camera. I think
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: she learned today it's not.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: How does she get a job like this, Mark Leibovich?
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, Donald Trump promises the best people.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: How did he find this best new press secretary?
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: You know, there was obviously a worldwide search. They interviewed many.
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: I'm going to guess she has the two main criterion here,
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: which is that she looks the part and she is
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: hyper loyal. I mean, she look, it's not like she
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: is spouting talking points when she is like like preaching
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: to dear, you know, praising dear leader. I mean, she
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: seems very much like a true believer based on her
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: past experience. remarks and activities um you know i guess
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: i feel it like my open-hearted about this i feel
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: kind of sorry for her um partly because of like
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: she's clearly in over her head yes there are a
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: lot of sort of sycophantic media entities in the room
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: now but it's still it's tension city as george herbert
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: walker bush once said famously and the other thing is
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: she knows all too well that the audience of one
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: is fixated on the camera she he is watching her
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: really really closely And I mean, he obviously he sees
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: what a lot of other people see. And it was
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: not a not a great debut. So I think she
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: was nervous to begin with. I think once she had
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: a few mishaps that she knew about, it sort of
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: fed on itself.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: And, you know, hopefully for her sake, it gets better.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: There's talk of how long she's going to last, whether
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: she'll outlast Scaramucci. Mark, what's your sense of things from
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: the from the chief seats?
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: Well, I mean, she I mean, Scaramucci had 11 days.
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: So she's got 10 days to go. You know, it's possible.
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: I mean, I think Trump in some weird way probably
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: enjoys the parlor game of this sort of saying, all right, well,
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: we're going to compare him to compare to a previous
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: press secretary. And by the way, the idea that like
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: there is some duty to the office duty to the
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: Hatch Act, things like this. I mean, the proper the
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: properness of this went out the window a long, long
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: time ago. White House certainly term one. So I don't
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: think that that's something that they care a lick about.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: By the way, Scaramucci, very good talker and also very smart.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: I know he got tossed very quickly because he was controversial.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: But I don't know if it's a totally fair comparison
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: between the two of them. Let me talk about what
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: she revealed unintentionally, intentionally. Why would she not? Would you
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: expect her to be up to date, David, on whether
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: we are sharing intelligence with Ukraine? Would that be the
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: kind of answer that she would anticipate, the question she
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: would anticipate?
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: And would that be something normally done?
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: There would be a prepped answer for?
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: Absolutely.
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: Look, the issue is that we share intelligence with Ukraine.
• 4:52
  Speaker 6: Earlier today, the president of Ukraine said that they had
• 4:55
  Speaker 6: not been warned about an incoming missile strike. So there
• 4:58
  Speaker 6: were concerns about whether President Trump was withholding intelligence. So
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: She should have been prepared for that question. And just
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: more broadly, there were so few questions. Our colleague Peter
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: Alexander pointed out that Carolyn Leavitt took, I think, more
• 5:11
  Speaker 6: than a dozen or even two dozen questions in her
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: first press conference. So have previous folks on their first
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: time out there. You know, there was three, I believe,
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: or four. None went to sort of mainstream news organizations.
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: And the questions were sort of softballs. In addition to Ukraine,
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: we are at war with Iran. Fifty thousand service members
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: are in harm's way. And she wasn't asked a single
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: question about the.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: War with Iran.
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: And so that's that's not.
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: A service to the public or to those service members
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: or to their families.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Well, let's if you did not watch this as it
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: unfolded live and maybe you don't have the time to
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: watch it in full, even though it wasn't very long,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: but say you don't. We do have a slightly shorter
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: mashed up version of the highlights of her appearance.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Let's play it.
• 5:58
  Speaker 7: I want to thank President Trump for his trust that
• 6:02
  Speaker 7: he has placed in me. I have wanted to work
• 6:06
  Speaker 7: for him for a very long time, especially as we
• 6:10
  Speaker 7: are in the middle of the midterm blitz with energy
• 6:14
  Speaker 7: and excitement never seen before in the history of midterms,
• 6:19
  Speaker 7: thanks to President Trump. He had a historic one-day war,
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: and now we have a booming economy and a great
• 6:26
  Speaker 7: relationship With Venezuela, I love being with my kids. The
• 6:31
  Speaker 7: idea of not spending evenings with my kids is completely unacceptable.
• 6:37
  Speaker 7: So my president, excuse me, my husband, that's a good one.
• 6:42
  Speaker 7: My husband is out here.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Let's also ask, let's take this soundbite as well. She
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: says she is an attorney. Let's find out where she
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: says she took the bar.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: She appeared to say when I moved to China.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: James, that's news to me.
• 7:15
  Speaker 8: I haven't taken the Chinese bar exam, but I suspect
• 7:17
  Speaker 8: it would be very difficult to take.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Could you take it online if you live in China?
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Katie, there are questions I know the answers to. California
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: bar exam from China?
• 7:27
  Speaker 8: No, you cannot take an American bar exam from China.
• 7:30
  Speaker 8: You cannot take an American bar exam online. Look, we
• 7:34
  Speaker 8: can overplay the press secretary's debut, but let's be clear.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: In fairness to her.
• 7:39
  Speaker 8: She's been put in this position. Now, obviously, she wants
• 7:43
  Speaker 8: the position, but is she any less qualified than Pete
• 7:46
  Speaker 8: Hagseth is to lead the Department of Defense? Is she
• 7:49
  Speaker 8: any less qualified than Todd Blanch is to lead the
• 7:51
  Speaker 8: Department of Justice? Is she less qualified than Robert F.
• 7:53
  Speaker 8: Kennedy Jr. is to lead Health and Human Services? Is
• 7:56
  Speaker 8: she less qualified than Linda McMahon to be the Secretary
• 7:59
  Speaker 8: of Education? This entire Trump 2.0 is a war on expertise.
• 8:04
  Speaker 8: This is not an accident.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Ned, what do you think of that?
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: Well, I think that's exactly right. I mean, she really
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: has the misfortune of being out there every single day,
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: whereas these others can sort of hide behind their surrogates,
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: hide behind their departments.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: The others might be better at the on-camera bluster than
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: she is. I mean, just if you're talking about Donald
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: Trump and what he appreciates, he appreciates somebody who can
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: speak on television and make the case for him. He's
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: not too worried about what you're saying specifically, but he
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: wants you to do it forcefully.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: She didn't do that there.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: So it's no wonder that MSNOW is reporting she had
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: a bad debut.
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: Well, there's a critical difference between cabinet secretaries and the
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: White House press secretary. Cabinet secretaries so often can go
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: out there and they can read from prepared remarks. They
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: can deliver a speech, a keynote. They can go to
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: a conference. Rarely, if ever, unless they really want to
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: for some reason, do they have to stand in front
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: of reporters and answer questions for 30, 45 minutes, an
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: hour each and every day. Even going out and answering
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: questions from reporters for 14 minutes today proved to be
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: a difficult exercise. But look, it is a tough job
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: she is doing. She should be doing the job that
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: others within her administration aren't doing. And let me make
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: one final point. Cabinet secretaries aren't doing this. Spokespeople at
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: other US government departments and agencies aren't doing this. The
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: Defense Department hasn't briefed since May, I believe it is.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: The State Department has not briefed in months and months.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: These people are elected by the American people. There's something
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: called consent of the governed in this country. We implicitly
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: give our lawmakers that consent. They, in return, should be
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: telling us what they're doing in our name, in the
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: name of the United States of America. And they haven't been.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And here's another quote from a source speaking to
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Jake Traylor and other MSNOW White House reporters. The press
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: and the administration are all probably thinking the same thing.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: We miss Caroline. We'll see about that. Let's talk about
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Kimberly Guilfoyle. Mark Leibovich, here is the president when he
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: was asked about Kimberly Guilfoyle.
• 10:03
  Speaker 7: Kimberly Guilfoyle, she was almost a member of your family.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: How surprised were.
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: You to learn about these allegations?
• 10:09
  Speaker 9: What did you think of her?
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: No, she wasn't a member of my family. She, I guess,
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: dated my son a long time ago, but she wasn't.
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: No, she.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: She went to Greece.
• 10:18
  Speaker 7: She was doing a good job, but we didn't like
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: what we were reading. I didn't speak to her now,
• 10:22
  Speaker 7: but she will.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: Not be there.
• 10:26
  Speaker 9: I didn't like what I read.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Mark, what did he remind me? Can you remember off
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the top of your head? What did he say about
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Paul Manafort when he got.
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: Rid of Paul Manafort? This is a pattern. Paul Manafort
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: ran his campaign. I barely knew him. He worked for me.
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: I mean, he directly lived above it. But there is
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: this recurring trope. I mean, maybe he kind of lapsed
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: it inside his own head, but I mean, look, she was,
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: you know, she was engaged to Donald Trump Jr. I mean,
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: she was in the room. She was in all those photos.
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: She was right there even on January 6th. I mean,
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: there are those little, you know, the holding areas. She
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: was right there. She gave a big, prominent, very memorable
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: speech at the 2020 Republican Convention. And, you know, this
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: is what Donald Trump does. It's almost become a joke.
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: But obviously, I mean, the question is now. Does she
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: actually know a lot of secrets that make her a
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: little bit dangerous? Will they let her go away quietly
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: and peacefully? And will she sort of go along and hopefully,
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: for her sake, not be in the spotlight anytime soon?
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: But we'll see. I guess this is where it gets interesting. Hey,
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: it's Rachel.
• 11:28
  Speaker 9: I am so glad to see you at the end
• 11:30
  Speaker 9: of that clip because this is where I get to
• 11:31
  Speaker 9: tell you about a new way to watch all our
• 11:34
  Speaker 9: clips and all of our shows and everything on MSNOW
• 11:38
  Speaker 9: on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. You
• 11:41
  Speaker 9: can watch things live or recorded, plus you can ask
• 11:43
  Speaker 9: me and all the other hosts and reporters questions in
• 11:46
  Speaker 9: our weekly live chats. You can go to ms.now slash
• 11:51
  Speaker 9: membership or just click below. Thanks.