Cspan radio app. Joining us from the d. C. Bureau of abc news is Jonathan Karl chief white housewh correspondent for abc news. His new book, truck front row at the trump show last year he served as the president of the White House Correspondents Association thank you for coming back to cspan we appreciate it. It want to begin what you wrote with the Washington Post for this last weekend you wrote the following, as a reporter and president of the White House Correspondents Association ive often advocated a return of regular briefings by the White House Press secretary which lasted early 18 america over the years can be debated by think the white house spokesperson has an obligation to regularly answer questions aboutha the policies and pronounces of the executive branch for the whiteus House Press Secretary differs fundamentally from that of a spokesperson for a candidate or Political Party the White House Press secretary serves at the pleasure of the president but also a Public Servant whose salaries paid by taxpayers the job is to inform thery public. So from your standpoint were not getting that from the podium, correct . Ion am glad to see there are briefings taking place, if you actually look at the briefings they are very short events, they are almost always less than a half an hour. Sometimes not more than 15 minutes theres an opening monologue that is meant to is meant to attack the people in the room the News Reporters or other news organizations or promote a political issue the president is harping on. And then they close in precisely the same way. It almostay seems to me that the purpose of the briefing is one, to promote the president s political prospects and to to go on the attack against reporters instead of trying to inform the reporters in that room. In your article, in your acacia point out one exchange in which you are asking the White House Press secretary at with the tweets with nascar bubble wallace what is your reaction . So what is your position does he think nascar made a mistake by banning the Confederate Flag . I spoke with her this morning about this hes not making a judgment one way or the other he was standing up for the men and women of nascar, the fans and have rush to judgment of the media to call something a hate crime when the fbi report included is not an intentional racist acts. Het very much mirrors other have been a rush to judgment. Lets drill down on the Confederate Flag does he think it was a mistake for nascar to ban it . The president said is not making a judgment one way or the other you are focusing on one word at the bottom of the tweet thats taken completely out of context and neglecting with a rush to judgment. So you think the ratings are down because they ban the flag . So its in aggregate notion that nascar men and women who have gone and are being demeaned and called racist at her being accused in some venues of committing a hate crime those allegations are dead wrong. So Jonathan Karl, what is going on there . So whats not going on there is the press secretary in good faith answering a question. He hadnt heard me ask a very simple question i was only asking because the president himself had raised it with a tweet. So what is the president s position on nascar in the Confederate Flag . Fisher looks like in black and white twitter feed that it was a mistake to band the flag and it caused nascars ratings to goto down. So she said im taking the president s words out of context focusing on one word at the end of the tweets. First of all it was not one word and i was not taking anything w out of context i was asking a question. I was simply asking what the a president s position on this. And then she went into an elaborate explanation of the president s to eat that really bore little resemblance to what was said and that tweet. The press secretary is there to answer questions, good and bad. Gives a semblance of truth to what is happening cant just go in there and make things up because it sounds better for the president. To me, thats what was going on there. It is just one example. I did not even mention in the article, as you played again, its frankly shocking that even after all of the controversy generated by the president accusing Bubba Wallace of being behind a hoax somehow she compares him to jesse some mullets who actually did who was involved in a hoax. Bubble wallace did not do anything. Somebody on his team found a noose operating as you know the story, as a garage pole. The fbi investigated, nascar investigated, bubble wallace did not do anything wrong at all. This is in a campaign person, this is not a political talking head on the cable tv show. This is a spokesperson for the president of the United States for the executive branch of our government to go out and suggest that Bubba Wallace is equivalent to jesse, i dont know. It leaves me a little speechless. As youou know, mid afternoon on tuesday we received were the president was going to have a rose garden press secretary we keep it live in its entirety. These folks were 54 minutes in an Opening Statement and took about nine minutes ofnt q a. What was your reaction to that . My reaction was i was sitting in the rose garden watching a political rally. A political stump speech and id never seen that before. We often talk about a rose garden o strategy running for reelection that usually means the president does a series of official acts that will ultimately help him in reelection because the people see that the president is out there doing work on behalf of the American People. Thats usually about avoiding the messiness of a campaign by being above it all and acting as president. But in this case all the messiness of the Campaign Came right into the rose garden. Back to the briefings, my good friend, george i know you know well a reporter for national journal, a historian of the house and press relations, juste a really true great reporters in washington asked a very simple question the next day about that speech noting, is there any place at the white house the president would not engage in politics . Its sacrosanct that he would bring politics into it. The press secretary attacked george and said that exempts the president and the Vice President he had not mention a word about that it was not his question. And wrapped it up by saying you are just upset because the president gave such a great speech in the rose garden. You cant just say things because you think it makes it some better for the president. But that was quite an event in the rose garden. He think it might have been surpassed the following day s when the president held the event on the south lawn, steps away from the rose garden featured a red pickup truck and a blue pickup truck with massive waits in the back and a big crane lifting the weights off of the red pickup truck, get it . And the crane had a sign saying trump administration. It was this elaborate, again an elaborate political event on, white house grounds. President sat running for reelection engage in politics there politician. But you dont usually see such a blatantly political events on the white house grounds as you know someonewh who spent a lot of time in the white house. So will turn to our book and then get to our calls you explain in great detail when you first met donald trump. You included a photograph and then at, headline for the New York Post reviewer employed at the time inside Michael Jacksons honeymoon hideaway explain. So i go way back with donald trump thats wire wrote this book it was been an extraordinary series of interactions and a relationship that goes back 26 years now. That first meeting was in 1994. I was a young reporter for the New York Post. I had been on the job a matter of months. I was working as a very junior person, Rudy Giuliani was the mayor had just gotten elected. Michael jackson had just gotten married to Elvis Presleys daughter, Lisa Marie Presley in secret. It was revealed there new couple was actually staying at trump tower. In new york with our fifth avenue. So it was all consuming story in new york as you can imagine. Theres so many people that went to trump tower to try to get a glimpse of these famous newlywedsd. Michael jackson was it at the absolute peak of his popularity. The policeki had to put police tape all around and push people to the other side of the block camera crews, paparazzi, news organizations everybodys there. I called up donald trump and he definitely did not know me. I want to do a story about why the most famous newlyweds and the planet decide to start their honeymoon in trump tower and he invited me over and we spent an hour Walking Around trump towery show me where they were staying, introduced me to the body guy guards showed me secret passageways or we could get out he showed me his own apartment. I put that photograph in a box like 20 years ago when i moved down to washington from new york. When donald trump got elected president , i went frantically trying to find it and i was amazed at how little he has changed. My memory of that instance use of the headline in the post, i wrote like five stories about what was transpiring. His approach to the media, his approach to promotion and selfpromotion okay will take a few phone calls mary is joining us from new york. Good morning. Caller thank you good morning. I watch all of the present briefings and i see what goes on and i see how you act in today you were acting so nicely nice. Why cant you say anything positive pretty come on this show and you cut this poor woman down. She gives facts which the media does not. They do not like that. So yep smile, you know i am right. Why dont you stop this and negative, negative stuff. Speech it well mary i do appreciate the question. I have been in that Briefing Room under think now 15 different presspr secretaries. Our job is to ask hard questions i certainly did that with the last administration you watch the questions asked of barack obama we are not there to sit and praise the president talk about what a great job is doing whether to ask questions and report whats happening. Reporting on successes as well as failures. I will Say Something nice i think Kayleigh Mcenany is the most Effective Campaign spokesperson that donald trump us had ever. I think she comes into that room she is very well prepared, shes a very effective spokesperson for donald trump my criticism as i outlined it so heavily political and not always being more to the facts which you mention, facts are very important. We are there to report the facts. I that is what i do. I asked those questions and i do not shy away from asking tough questions. Not of this president or spokesperson for this president i certainly did not shy away from asking tough questions of the previous president and the previous president and their spokespeople thats our job should be doing focused on the facts without fear you said some have not held a single press briefing and she did meet with reporters whats called goggles we are saying the Current Press secretary is more effective than shawn spicer or sarah . So i think in terms of making the political point i think she is extremely effective she is very well spoken she is quick on herer feet. Certainly more effective at that than shawn spicer. But i think again did the briefings have as i outlined in the article the press secretary, the reason it is a different job is because you are the spokesperson for the executive branch of our government you are somebody who gets paid by taxpayers. You are somebody that people rely on for information, not skewed by politics. It can be information in a time of crisis. I have been in that Briefing Room during some really weighty times. I remember being there in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing for instance. Being in their after terrorist attacks in france and in london. And during the whole rise of isis. Some very tense times where people are relying on the information they are getting from that person. They need to know is not just about putting the president and the best light. Its providing the American People with facts, unvarnished facts. I was in the during the a ebola crisis under obama and now the current pandemic. The information that comes from that podium has to be reliable and of course its going to put the president the best light, every press secretary does that. But it must do more than that. So effective phone calls doug is joining us from boston, democrats lingered morning. There. Should blatant acts of choreography between Kayleigh Mcenany and. [inaudible] the last questions asked of the press conference directed to chanel it gives Kayleigh Mcenany an event to vent on this im surprised nobodys caught onto this especially you guys i thought perhaps she would comment on this thanks a lot have a nice day. Guest im not going to report on what other people in that room make the strategy of what theyre doing with organization. I fully understand the callers point. He questioned often seemed designed to give the press secretary and opportunity to tea something up. Sometimes they are a little out there and they surprise the press secretary. For the president when he calls on them. M. I fully understand what the callers sink. Another moment about dr. Anthony fauci okay or just about perspective the white house trashing doctor fauci and sending out documents to reporters. As its gone off sources in the past why not have the guts to trash turned on with your own name . So president trump, i will refer you back theres no Opposition Research being dumped onto supporters we were asked a very important question he had mistakes and had a direct answer to a direct question. They inject themselves with disinfectants that sort of thing. Why not send out these notes to reporters about what fauci said in the past with your name on i it . Were sending out notes to reporters on i would note that in terms of the president his record on the coronavirus as actions and its historical spot you have doctor fauci who has been with the record of this president anyone could be doing more and those of the words of fauci. We provided direct response that cannot be further from the truth doctor fauci of the president have had a good working relationship john karl what is your reaction the notion theress Opposition Research on that could not be further from the truth. Again, you cannot just say it because it soundss better for the president , it has to be based in fact. And the facts were the White House Press office he was one 100 correct in that question the white house put out information with faith that was critical it was a series of quotes, some of them taking wildly out of context theres Opposition Research there has been hours before that briefing, the deputy chief of staff since the beginning of the trunk campaign is close to donald trump is anyone in that white house and accrued cartoon ridiculing and mocking Anthony Fauci. We did not know it at the time but we had peter navarro, the trade advisor, i submitted about the time the press conference was going on, to usa today saying fauci had been wrongng about anything hed ever talked to her dealt with him about. So yes, there is a lot going on and that white house, trying truth, for some reason, take on Anthony Fauci and question his credibility. So is not the furthers thing from truth it was the truth. And jim acosta a very pointed question near very good reason for asking it looking at the Washington Post of the Daily Briefing at Available Online from its newest book front row at the trump show he writes the following it is reporters job to be skeptical of those in power. The disregard for the truth that i witnessed at the Trump White House is qualitatively differen different. I have seen senior officials taking a cue directly from the president directly making things up. I have waged a sustained Campaign Making people think the truth is a lie whenever he does not like the truth. This is an untruth itself. That from the new book, front row at the trump show john is on the phone from maryland. Caller hi, good day. First i want to thank cspan i have become addicted to cspan in 30 plus years starting with the reagan days. Second this is to the point of his work, facts do matter in your last guest for example when he opens by saying that Democrat Party was for slavery and so forth, he totally distorts the shifting of parties and positions in a way that is useful if youre trying to to see people for political purpose. Your shows have historically focused on history and knowledge in that so important straight in the same we will people talk about the flag they have to be truthful about what it represents meeting the Confederate Flag and how it is reintroduced as a part of proactive support of jim crow and actual terrorism. When i heard of mr. Carls book i was quite happy because faxes do matter. The o last point on facts and the concern on the covid crisis is the president should be doing proper press conferences and his staff to do them as well. You should have a chart that showsha how many infections or virus infections have occurred, having people died since the president has done p a proper press conference and hold them accountable for that and accountable for the facts whether it is Fact Checking from the right or the left that supports the president seeking the truth. Guest i think thats exactly right the facts matter if the focus on effects as reporteunder recorder regardless of where they lead. The contacts is incredibly important, the Historical Context is incredibly importanton. In the case of a pandemic is actually a matter of quite literally life and death. All of our lives all of us want to know how we should deal with this threat, threat to our Health Threat to our loved ones having that information that pure information without spin, without intending to frame things as good or bad, or a political figure but what is the information help us figure out how to protect ourselves . Its always important to be truthful and to have a level of trust, but now we see truly what the consequences are with a lack of trustworthy information coming from official sources. Somatic rick you are next room savannah georgia. I have been watching your show which i really like. I listen to him he talks about facts. How many times have we heard facts about what say the bidens the quid pro quo is far as what joe did and the money to get him off t also for three years we have listened to gotcha, gotcha, gotcha instead of really doing journalism et cetera its been going after trump a. In my opinion has he done anything right . To me the man has done great with the pressure he has been under as far as getting attacked every single day. Kayleigh mcenany is the greatest higher hes ever had. She stands up to people who are sharks. And want to destroy the man every second he wakes up. Yet the bidens get off, they dont get asked anyt questions. They want to watch whats going on every time trump wakes up its im got to go get him and destroy him. The partyty could zero coverage. What your name again . Smith my name is rick. First i want to tell you in my book i do address one of the points you made which is relentlessly negative tone of so much of the media since the day he walked into the white house. I do agree that the overall tone of the coverage has been one of every day, oh my god look what he just did look at this outrage look at that outrage. That is provided a lot of material to fuel that coverage. I do believe it is obscure the fact there have been real accomplishments of this administration. I talk about in my book, i acknowledge that point. I think it is incorrect to say the bidens dont get looked at they dont get talked about. I asked the very first question is asked about hunter biden, i think i asked before most people even knew who hunter biden was. I asked about that in the white house at a briefing of jay carney, right after he was named to the board. I sit isnt this at the very least a conflict of interest . Or an appearance of a conflict of interest to have the Vice President s son paid by this Ukrainian Energy company at the time when not only was the Vice President dealing with Foreign Policy questions but he was the point person on ukraine. That was a legitimate issue thats why ias asked about all those years ago. Look, i think you do have a point on a lot of the coverage is so thoroughly and totally negative you cannot distinguish between a real story and what as. Relatively trivial thing is. But good reporters ask tough questions and do investigative reporting certainly candidates for president regardless of what party appears direct as you know does this leak more administrations and trying to figure out whos doing it . The leaks in this administration are qualitatively different than anything we have seen. There are different kinds of leaks people try to undermine other white house and theres a remarkable amount of that in the white house. There also been leaks that have been incredibly damaging ive a whole chapter on this. Does seem transcripts of World Leaders leak and tired transcripts on the pages of newspapers. That is annera extraordinary breach of security breach. He had a right to be outraged by that. The president should be able to have a conversation with World Leaders without thinking this entire conversation is going to be splash one the pages of the Washington Post. A lot comes from the president s own top aides. Who knows where those came from they could have been career officials and previous administrations. And lets face it, the president himself as someone in to talk to qualitatively different to veryky leaky white house we are now in chief of staff four, every chief of staff are setting out to stop the leaks and none have been successful present on twitter says make America Great again pray the president looking at the try to help portland not hurt it, theyre losing control of the agitators they are missing in action we must protect federal property and our people. Thesees are not really protesters they are the real deal. In fact your phone calls with bloomfield michigan good mornin morning. What i find and i understand why people think the news is slanted, is that press conferences speechesre news events particularly with this president i haveee seen cnn and msnbc, they will say okay will break away and a monitor this and let you know if anything important comes up ive seen fox do it occasionally. I want to know your thoughts are about this . And as the presse corps what are you going to do about it to make sure the American People get to see and decide for themselves sees ben does carry all these in their entirety without disruption. Is going to make exactlyly that point the 50 want to watch the presence remarks in their entirety will be able to do that. Cspan is rightht here. Even the white house on the twitter feed completely unedited the news channel isnt there simply to be a Conveyor Belt i think its entirely appropriate for a news channel to say we are going to monitor, we are going to see what news came out of it and will bring you that news. I dont think theres a problem with that at all. What do the president s fullma remarks, youve got those. Snack we will go back to the Daily Briefings you mentioned at the end, as we well know, the press secretary had a parting, heres one example. Stomach finally i would end with this. I was asked probably 12 questions about the Confederate Flag. This present focus on action im dismayed i did not get one question on the deaths weve had this week it not one question about new york city shootings doubling and its skyrocketed by 142 . Not one question pretty i never received one question about five childrenll who were killed and i will leave with this remark by a dad that broke my heart they say black lives matter, you killed a child, she did not do nothing with nobody was his quotes. We need to be focused on securing our streets, make sure no lives are lost because all black lives matter, that is david dorn and that is his 8yearold girl. Thank you. And she walked off the podium, jonathan cant even see that quite often live. Okay, what is she trying to say . Is she suggesting the reporters in that room dont care about people getting murdered on the streets of new york . Is that what shes trying to say . It was str a short press briefig that was in about 22 minutes long. The only reason the Confederate Flag was brought up because the president himself brought it up. The only reason there were several questions not 12 by the way that was wrong. The only reason why there are multiple questions is because the question was not being answered the people the reporters were following up thats an important thing to do followup in to get the answer. And furthermore regarding the shootings in new yorkk city, that would be, a serious issue i would probably be leaving with that as a thing as asking about. It was not as if the president had put out any new initiatives to deal with crime in new york. Were there to report on the activities of the president is nothing they put forth and by the way up that press conference and got a little bit longer than 22 minutes with the opening and closing, you would have seen you may have seen questions. She is she wanted to bring up new york she could have brought it up. If you listen after the walk off you hear one of my colleagues saying well can you stick around will ask you right now about new york. But no, you have kept the walkoff moments. Imply the press doesnt care about people getting killed inn walkout. Host sheila you are next. Caller good morning and thank you very much its nice to see you on tv, i enjoyed you for many years on fox nation or whatever it is, abc. Whatever. Wherever i did like you. But anyway, my point is i am very upset of the facts, number one cspan has notn covered anything on what is going on in seattle. I have watched every single morning and it displays me theres been no coverage on whats going on up there. Secondly, jim acosta we know as a hostile reporter. Heat misinterprets or takes everything he can out of context. The one thing that really gets me is the business of trunk told people to inject themselves with whatever. He never mentioned that, we know what he meant. Science is showing there arere antibiotics that worked just like disinfectant in the body. That is really, really disturbing. And somebody said hes incompetent, hes done this, hes done that. Very rarely do we have a guest on who is positive in says theres lots of things wrong in this country, and one of the things that really needs to change is the attitude of the black community. There must take some responsibility for the positions they are in. Host sheila we appreciate the call will get a response. I think jim acosta is a good reporter and he gets under press secretary to present he also did that under the obama administration. You mentioned the injecting disinfectant, out of healthy did Say Something about that i was in the press briefing when the president did bring up the idea of having disinfectants used inside the body. He did not say inject is an odd moment he also said putting uv light inside of the body and some research somethingme happen there if the president to inject is infected is not what he said. He said something along the lines something about investigating disinfectants in the body. For the last news the president press conference that new book front row at the trump show. Before we let you go, quick question about whatex we can expect this week, house and senate are back in session working on a compromise for relief bill. That the end of the day what is going to happen . I think there is significant incentive to get something done there very far apart. An interesting wrinkle we have eeseen now as theyre posting the times will cover this this morning is what the republicans are proposing trying to strip away money for additional coronavirus testing raid there seems to be kind of an odd move. My sense is that republicans on capitol hill will not go along with that. It is a huge issue, this crisis is clearly going to be going on for some time. And i think both sides are going to want to show they are doing something, going into the selection they are doing something to help people who have been hit very hard by this crisis in terms of fear, health impact, and the severe economic impact. It is great to be out with you, steve, you handle this you handle your work with incredible grace and you are always fair, always imbalanced. I think you are a model so thanks for having me on. Thank you i know you have this week this morning i will let you go to your other day job and thank you for being with us. Cspans washington journal, every day we are taking your calls come live on the air with the news of the day. We discussed policy issues that impact you. Coming up on Tuesday Morning American Federation of teachers president Randi Weingarten discusses the union with the debate over opening schools amid the coronavirus pandemic. And American Conservative Union will be on to talk about campaign 2020 and president trumps reelection strategy. Watch cspans washington journal, live at seven eastern, Tuesday Morning and be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, and Text Messages and tweets. Join the discussion. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell open today Senate Session with a tribute to representative john lewis who died friday at the age of 80. The georgia democrats served 33 years in the house. Pr on friday, the nation lost a monumental figure. Some who made huge perl
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