Appearing on Fox News’ “Outnumbered,” former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, discussed the report that famed photographer Annie Leibowitz, who had already taken photos for gushing profiles of Vice President Kamala Harris and former First Lady Michelle Obama, had gone to the White House to photograph White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki for an upcoming magazine profile. McEnany, who also co-hosts the show, pointed out that the mainstream media had not gushed over the women of the Trump administration but authored “hit pieces” instead.
“It’s just so sad that you have a fawning press corps like this, a fawning media, sycophantically covering members of the Biden administration,” McEnany snapped.
“Outnumbered” co-host Emily Compagno began by noting Leibovitz had appeared at a White House press conference, reportedly to take photos of Psaki for an upcoming magazine profile. She pointed out Leibovitz had shot Vogue cover photos of Vice Harris and Michelle Obama, but former First Lady Melania Trump, who had once been a model, had never graced the cover of Vogue — although Leibowitz did have time to shoot a photospread of Stormy Daniels.
“I waited four years for there to be any type of coverage of Melania, of you, of Morgan (Ortagus), of Sarah (Huckabee Sanders), of any of those strong women in leadership roles in that administration that were were working tirelessly day in and day out and somehow looking absolutely stunning the entire time. But not only was there a dearth of, even, profiles, not to mention Annie Leibovitz shoots, but there was also, frankly, a concerted attack, and quite frankly, vicious coverage of you all personally and professionally,” Compagno prompted.
“That’s right. Instead of the glowing profiles, there were hit pieces, repeatedly, time and time again,” McEnany replied. “It’s just so sad that you have a fawning press corps like this, a fawning media, sycophantically covering members of the Biden administration. They asked Jen Psaki yesterday about Joe Biden’s cat. I mean, it’s kind of incredible the questions that they ask. The Washingtonian wrote a piece saying, the problem, ‘The awkward feeling of rooting for the White House Press Secretary.’ We need investigative journalism. We don’t need fawning coverage. It doesn’t do the American people any justice.”
Compagno noted that many of the women in the Trump administration were working mothers, then asserted that only now was the press giving credit to women in the Biden administration for being working mothers.
“That’s right,” McEnany recalled. “I remember when The New York Times came to the Trump campaign headquarters and took pictures of all the women of the Trump campaign because we had so many. I was pregnant at the time; I believe Lara Trump was pregnant. We kept waiting for the story to pop. It never did because it just simply wasn’t negative enough.”
“Maggie Haberman wrote as the Biden administration was coming in that, you know, it was refreshing to see women like Jen Dillon, the head of the Biden campaign talking about being a mother,” McEnany continued. “‘Oh wait,’ I said; I quote-tweeted Maggie Haberman with a picture of me with a stroller in the White House because Sarah was a working mom, Stephanie Grisham was, I was and Morgan Ortagus was pregnant during her final year at the State Department. But Maggie Haberman seemed to have forgotten that.”
McEnany later stated, “Let me make one point: I don’t want, I don’t care about a Vogue magazine profile; I never did. When I went into the administration I had one goal: it was to elevate children who are killed in our streets from the White House press podium; it was to talk about people like David Dorn, who lost his life and his murder was streamed live for America to see. These stories were ignored; these were the forgotten men and women, and when we came into the administration and certainly me, I had one goal: elevate the forgotten men and women, and that is a legacy I’m very proud of. No Vogue profile necessary here.”
This article has been updated to include additional information.