Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Fmr. Trump press aide Zacharia is going to be a 'train wreck'

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Fmr. Trump press aide Zacharia is going to be a 'train wreck' · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Let's get right to MSNOW senior White House reporter, Vaughn Hilliard,
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  Speaker 1: who was inside that briefing room. So was MSNOW contributor
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and New York Times chief White House correspondent, Peter Baker.
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  Speaker 2: Vaughn, you're with me here. Take us into the room
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  Speaker 2: for a second. This was a lot of anticipation. It
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  Speaker 2: always is.
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  Speaker 1: It's a new high profile figure who's going to be
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  Speaker 1: speaking on behalf of the most powerful person in the world.
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  Speaker 2: How did this sort of room react to what we experienced?
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  Speaker 3: When she walked away from that podium, it was an
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  Speaker 3: aghast reaction from literally everybody.
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  Speaker 2: Because it was so quick. It was so quick.
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  Speaker 3: And half of the room are, I would say now,
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  Speaker 3: are more Trump aligned outlets or Trump sympathizing outlets. And
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  Speaker 3: even those folks representing, you know, everybody was looking at
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  Speaker 3: each other because even those outlets that got used to
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  Speaker 3: taking getting questions under Caroline Leavitt didn't get that opportunity.
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  Speaker 3: And what you had was somebody that the president of
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  Speaker 3: the United States three weeks before the midterms, you know,
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  Speaker 3: his this this was taken live across outlets everywhere across
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  Speaker 3: the country.
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  Speaker 4: Yep.
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  Speaker 3: This was his opportunity to have hand select one person
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  Speaker 3: to deliver a new midterm message with three weeks to go.
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  Speaker 3: That is the person that he chose to do that.
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  Speaker 3: She took just three questions there, was not eager to
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  Speaker 3: engage on policy clearly on any front. There was one
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  Speaker 3: serious policy question that was about whether the U.S. Trump
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  Speaker 3: administration was still intel sharing with Ukrainian forces. And she
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  Speaker 3: didn't have that answer. She said that she'd have to
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  Speaker 3: get back to Peter Doocy of Fox in response. That
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  Speaker 3: is significant because there's already consternation among European allies in
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  Speaker 3: Ukraine about whether Donald Trump is committed in the years
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  Speaker 3: ahead to defend them against their in their war against Russia.
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  Speaker 3: And yet she didn't have an even answer to that.
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  Speaker 3: There's serious questions about what this role is.
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  Speaker 1: As you and I were saying before we started this
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  Speaker 1: conversation on camera is that, you know, Peter, you'll agree
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  Speaker 1: there are a lot of times when the person at
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  Speaker 1: the podium may not have an answer to your question.
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  Speaker 2: But they sure as heck know how to filibuster.
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  Speaker 1: They could talk your ears off until you're blue in
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  Speaker 1: the face. Speaking about the policy at large, the president's
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  Speaker 1: made clear that he's upset with both Russia and Ukraine, yada, yada, yada.
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  Speaker 1: This was not the case here. What just sort of
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  Speaker 1: initial reactions? You've been in that room. I've shared it
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  Speaker 1: with you many times.
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  Speaker 2: What sort of struck you about what we saw here?
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  Speaker 2: For me, out of the gates is what appeared to
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  Speaker 2: break news. the Hatch Act, right? One of the calls
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  Speaker 2: would be the Office of Special Counsel.
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  Speaker 1: Corrine Jolpierre even got a slap on the wrist for
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  Speaker 1: what she said as it related to the Hatch Act
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  Speaker 1: when she referred to them as MAGA Republicans. This went
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  Speaker 1: way further in terms of crossing that line.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right.
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  Speaker 4: Look, I think, Peter, you're right to remind people it's
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  Speaker 4: a tough job. It's not an easy job, even under
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  Speaker 4: the best of circumstances and with the most sympathetic of
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  Speaker 4: presidents getting up in front of that room.
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  Speaker 2: And Vaughn was there.
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  Speaker 4: I was there.
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  Speaker 2: It was packed to the gills.
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  Speaker 4: It's a very intimidating atmosphere for somebody who's never done
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  Speaker 4: it before. Having said that, she was clearly so uncomfortable
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  Speaker 4: at the podium, so not confident in her brief that
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  Speaker 4: she has, I think, created an uphill challenge for herself
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  Speaker 4: going forward to prove that she can do the job.
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  Speaker 4: And I think to your point about what the role is,
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  Speaker 4: and Peter Doocy asked this question sort of, and then
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  Speaker 4: we didn't really get a full answer there in the
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  Speaker 4: sense of how she sees it. But traditionally, when I
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  Speaker 4: started doing this back in 1996, under Republicans and Democrats,
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  Speaker 4: the White House press secretary speaks for the president, yes,
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  Speaker 4: and therefore is often can be political in their communications.
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  Speaker 4: But the White House press secretary also speaks for the
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  Speaker 4: United States of America, right? Speaks for the country, is
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  Speaker 4: a voice seen and heard around the world by our
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  Speaker 4: enemies and our allies to explain American policy, to explain
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  Speaker 4: where the United States stands, which is not partisan position.
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  Speaker 4: And then in the past, during election seasons, other White
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  Speaker 4: Houses have literally deferred questions on electioneering to campaign-paid spokespeople.
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  Speaker 4: I remember traveling on Air Force One, and they would
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  Speaker 4: have a White House press secretary for governmental-related questions, policy-related questions,
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  Speaker 4: and then they would have a campaign aide, a campaign
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  Speaker 4: press secretary, to answer any questions about politics. This right
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  Speaker 4: out from the gate, she's just talking about the midterms
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  Speaker 4: as if she was a campaign spokesperson, not a spokesperson
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  Speaker 4: for the government.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: To be clear, when I was talking about the Hatch Act,
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  Speaker 1: for those who are not familiar with the Hatch Act,
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  Speaker 1: that's the law that bars civil servants from politicking during
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  Speaker 1: their day jobs.
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  Speaker 2: The only individuals who.
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  Speaker 1: Are allowed to do that are the president of the
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  Speaker 1: United States and the vice president, obviously, as press secretary.
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  Speaker 1: That applies to you here, I should say, Vaughn, as
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  Speaker 1: I was speaking to a former high-level Trump aide in
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  Speaker 1: the moments before we came out here. This person said,
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  Speaker 1: I think she is going to be a train wreck.
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  Speaker 1: It's not just open season for people to be critical
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  Speaker 1: on this woman.
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  Speaker 2: She has a tough job. This is going to be
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  Speaker 2: a tough gig for anybody Who does it?
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  Speaker 1: But it is also a very high level job, as
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  Speaker 1: Peter noted, with real critical responsibilities. And it matters to
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  Speaker 1: hear those statements because that tells you what the president
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  Speaker 1: is certain to be thinking about it as well right now.
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  Speaker 1: Can you just pull back the curtain a little bit
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  Speaker 1: on how that room has changed? Because this is what's
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  Speaker 1: been most dramatic for me over the course of the
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  Speaker 1: last 15 or so years is how it is no
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  Speaker 1: longer sort of these traditional journalists trying to get policy
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  Speaker 1: specifics and positions published. from the president from the white
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  Speaker 1: house it's become a lot more influencers and sycophants breitbart
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  Speaker 1: and that new media seat is a said was the
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  Speaker 1: first one.
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  Speaker 3: Called on right out of the gates part of the
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  Speaker 3: job for donald trump's press secretary and the entire communications
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  Speaker 3: office there to your point is managing relationships with those
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  Speaker 3: right wing outlets are propaganda outlets or Trump-backed outlets that
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  Speaker 3: spew his 2020 election conspiracy theories. That is a big
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  Speaker 3: part of this job. In choosing Katie Zachariah, they had
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  Speaker 3: somebody who peddled Pizzagate conspiracies, 2020 election conspiracies, COVID vaccine
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  Speaker 3: conspiracy theories. So they have somebody that can manage those relations.
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  Speaker 3: But then the other part of this is providing facts.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, those are questions she's still going to
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  Speaker 1: have to face in that room at some point when
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  Speaker 1: she calls on other individuals.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: And part of this is to your point is she
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  Speaker 3: ran afoul already of reality by saying, you know, in
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  Speaker 3: their opening remarks that there were record breaking attendance for
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  Speaker 3: his campaign rallies. That's just not true. Last night in Ohio,
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  Speaker 3: there were thousands of empty seats. At his convention in
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  Speaker 3: Dallas last month, there were tens of thousands of empty seats.
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  Speaker 3: So already she is showing the political propaganda that Donald
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  Speaker 3: Trump wants to hear. And as one person who is
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  Speaker 3: close to this operation messaged me right after this. is
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  Speaker 3: that nobody serious in a prepared capacity wanted to follow
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  Speaker 3: Caroline Leavitt because she was very good at this. There
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  Speaker 3: could be an opening, despite Zachariah's suggestion she wants to
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  Speaker 3: serve out the next two years in the White House,
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  Speaker 3: that perhaps the next person would be a little bit
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  Speaker 3: more comfortable to take this podium after that performance today.
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  Speaker 1: So there was a little bit of news, obviously, Peter,
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  Speaker 1: that came out of this, specifically as it relates to
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  Speaker 1: one of the major headlines we've been watching. That's the
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  Speaker 1: situation regarding Kimberly Guilfoyle. And here's how that exchange went down.
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  Speaker 2: Listen.
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  Speaker 5: The president said yesterday to reporters that he is considering
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  Speaker 5: firing her.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know a timeline for that?
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  Speaker 5: And also, potentially, who could be on the short list
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  Speaker 5: to replace her if he does? We have asked Ambassador
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  Speaker 5: Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to
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  Speaker 5: the team and we wish her well.
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  Speaker 6: Okay.
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  Speaker 5: Second question for you, if I may, a personal question.
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  Speaker 5: Your family is in California. Your husband, you have four children.
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  Speaker 5: I'm wondering how you manage.
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  Speaker 1: So that was played part of that second question, because
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  Speaker 1: I was so jarring because the natural follow up would
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  Speaker 1: have been, are you bastard resigned? Has she resigned? What
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  Speaker 1: is the president's view on these allegations? Are they being investigated?
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  Speaker 1: And beyond right now, is there a U.S. ambassador to
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  Speaker 1: Greece right now? This was you know, this this was
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  Speaker 1: the big headline that should have come out of today's announcements.
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  Speaker 2: No, it was a stunner, actually.
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  Speaker 4: She said two sentences that she had been sent out
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  Speaker 4: there to say, obviously, and then the reporter, for whatever reason,
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  Speaker 4: decided not to follow up the actual news that had
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  Speaker 4: just been delivered to us. You're right about that. It
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  Speaker 4: was perplexing, to say the least. Whether she should have
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  Speaker 4: had that in her opening statement, usually a White House
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  Speaker 4: press secretary, when they come out, if they have news,
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  Speaker 4: they're going to deliver it at the top. Maybe that
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  Speaker 4: wasn't the way to go in this case, but certainly
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  Speaker 4: I wish we had been able to ask more questions
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  Speaker 4: to then suss out exactly the The issues you're asking about,
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  Speaker 4: has Guilfoyle agreed to resign? Why has the president thought
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  Speaker 4: this was bad? Of all the different things that people
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  Speaker 4: have done to make money in this administration, why is
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  Speaker 4: it that this one crossed the line and other ones didn't?
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  Speaker 4: I think that's a valid question and one we didn't
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  Speaker 4: get a chance to ask.
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  Speaker 1: We should note, obviously, the second question from a female
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  Speaker 1: reporter in the room was that personal question about her
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  Speaker 1: family and how she manages to balance work and.
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  Speaker 2: Life with No male.
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  Speaker 1: Press secretary has ever been asked that question. I can
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  Speaker 1: imagine the criticism. You know, you would think for if
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  Speaker 1: a man had asked that question in this circumstance, too,
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  Speaker 1: that just struck me personally here. We'll wait and see
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  Speaker 1: whether it's time for her to move her family, depending
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  Speaker 1: on the president's view of how she did. Peter, your
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  Speaker 1: take on just the value of these press briefings anymore,
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  Speaker 1: because they really did. I remember the old days with
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  Speaker 1: Jay Carney and Josh Earnest. I mean, our photographer, I
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  Speaker 1: dare acknowledge this, our camera guy who had his camera
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  Speaker 1: locked on me through those things would say, hey, Peter,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to have to take an energy drink because
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: you're starting to fall asleep.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, these could go for almost two hours, right?
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  Speaker 1: You'd be talking about policies in parts of the world
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  Speaker 1: I knew nothing about as well, and they would go on.
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  Speaker 1: Do they still have the same value to the American public?
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  Speaker 1: We don't want to never you never want to give
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  Speaker 1: up access, but do they still have a real impact
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  Speaker 1: in terms.
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  Speaker 2: Of their value? They're different, obviously.
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  Speaker 4: Look, when I started, I think that you did expect
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  Speaker 4: to get a pretty substantive briefing on most days on
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  Speaker 4: a variety of topics. I was always struck by the
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  Speaker 4: range of things that a press secretary had to answer
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  Speaker 4: about on any given day. And most of them were
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  Speaker 4: not about politics. Most of them were about policy. Most
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  Speaker 4: of them were about, you know, what is the president's
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  Speaker 4: stance on this bill? What does the president think about this,
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  Speaker 4: you know, revolution overseas? What's the president going to do
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  Speaker 4: about this big personnel issue?
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  Speaker 2: These are important questions.
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  Speaker 4: And it's, I think, in recent years, not entirely just
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  Speaker 4: under Trump, but especially under Trump, been converted into a
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  Speaker 4: job where the the purpose is to go out there
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  Speaker 4: and read a lot of spin and just give the
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  Speaker 4: company line rather than to actually grapple with the questions
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  Speaker 4: that might be important to the American people. And I
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  Speaker 4: think that there's something that's been lost in that sense.
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  Speaker 4: It's now just a spin factory. It's always been spin,
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  Speaker 4: of course. Everybody spins, Democrats, Republicans. But there used to
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: also be something of a substantive component to it, and
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: that seemed to be less so today.
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  Speaker 1: And in terms of the substance, four questions that you
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  Speaker 1: took today from a total of three reporters. Caroline Levitt
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: took 18 reporters. So it's 18 reporters. Corrine Jopier on
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  Speaker 1: her first day spoke to 25 reporters.
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  Speaker 3: Separate reporters. Vaughn, do we know when we hear from
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  Speaker 3: her next? There was no direct indication. There was a
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  Speaker 3: little question Thursday, Friday. She seemed to kind of waver
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: on whether she was going to be available. I know
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: that she said, well, the president can answer. Some more
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: of your specific questions when he heads to the Marine 2,
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  Speaker 3: Marine 1 to head to Alaska.
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  Speaker 2: So we may see him. We'll be watching.
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  Speaker 1: The president got a chance to speak for himself pretty soon. Vaughn,
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  Speaker 1: appreciate you. I know you're in the room. Peter Baker,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: thank you as well.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, it's Rachel.
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: I am so glad to see you at the end
• 11:01
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• 11:25
  Speaker 4: Thanks.