White House Press Secretary and Communications Director Stephanie Grisham hit back at CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Sunday after Cooper ran a segment mocking her late last week.
“I think CNN has lost sight of the fact that we are human beings,” Grisham said in response. “Just as Anderson Cooper has a job to do, working for a company he is proud of, so do I.”
“I also imagine he has a personal life, where he has to juggle quite a bit – and the same goes for me,” Grisham added.
Cooper, who portrays himself as an unbiased news anchor, repeatedly mocked Grisham, saying: “Ooh, Stephanie. You got to increase your vocabulary, I mean, your criticism. Theater now has been used twice. I mean, Grisham clearly doesn’t get to Broadway enough if she, you know, thinks those press conferences are theater.”
“I am a single mom who (proudly) holds three roles in the White House, and I am doing the very best I can,” Grisham said in response. “But I definitely don’t get to Broadway enough.”
Cooper’s segment attacking Grisham came shortly after Grisham hit CNN over the network’s extreme left-wing bias, which was further revealed this last week after James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas released more undercover sting videos on CNN.
“America needs real journalism. Real journalists don’t have an agenda,” Grisham tweeted. “They gather and present the news in an unbiased manner. They report the facts – and let the citizens decide. But audio of @CNN meetings, captured by @Project_Veritas, expose a very real agenda.”
“CNN President Jeff Zucker personally instructed his network’s producers to cut newsworthy stories in favor of additional anti-Trump coverage,” Grisham continued. “He demanded one anchor ‘just [expletive] nail’ Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway during an interview, a CNN insider says.”
CNN President Jeff Zucker personally instructed his network’s producers to cut newsworthy stories in favor of additional anti-Trump coverage.
He demanded one anchor “just [expletive] nail” Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway during an interview, a CNN insider says.
— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) October 18, 2019
WATCH:
“Ms. Grisham clearly doesn’t get to Broadway enough if she thinks those press conferences are theatre.” 🎭
On the #Ridiculist, @AndersonCooper pokes fun at some of the recent turns of phrase offered by rarely seen White House press sec. Stephanie Grisham.https://t.co/rc8u65KR2R pic.twitter.com/C3mu3s7agb
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) October 19, 2019
The following is the transcript from Cooper’s segment mocking Grisham:
COOPER: Time now for “The Ridiculist.” And tonight, we commend the bravery of White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, who finally got a brief furlough from West Wing Witness Protection. Grisham popped her head out this morning to check in with her supervisors over at Fox News. Though, it seems like she saw her shadow and [is] now back under ground for six more weeks of stonewalling.
The rarely seen press secretary who, since taken that job over the summer, has actually yet to hold a formal news briefing, appeared on “Fox & Friends.”
By the way, I just want to point out, it’s “Fox & Friends,” it’s got an ampersand. It’s not “Fox ‘N Friends,” you know, like Kibbles ‘N Bits or Shake ‘N Bake, that’s what I thought it was, so I checked. You can, you know, take that off your list of great unknowns.
Grisham’s appearance came less 24 hours after acting Chief of Staff Mick “Great Muffet Keeper” Mulvaney’s news conference, which drew huge reviews ranging from not helpful to a confession.
Now, for her part, though, Grisham said that Mulvaney did everything a good accomplice should.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEPHANIE GRISHAM, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He did a great job. He mentioned the same message over and over and over. And now, the media, of course, is, you know, we put a statement out clarifying some of the things that the media got themselves in a tizzy over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Tizzy. Damn, Grisham’s a truth teller. I mean, you know what, let the chips fall where they may. Stephanie don’t care. Does everybody working for the President have to debase themselves and lie like he does? Apparently so.
I thought John Grisham was a great story teller, but I got to say, Stephanie Grisham may have him beat. In the alternative universe version of what happened, Mulvaney stayed on message, did a great job, and the White House only had to clarify his statement because the media was in such a tizzy.
Frigging media, always in a tizzy over silly little things like using the presidency for corrupt personal gain, using American taxpayer money to coerce a desperate leader of a country under attack by Russians to dig up dirt damaging President Trump’s political opponents in the upcoming election, that’s nothing.
Stephanie had more criticism for the press today, though. It turns out what she said was actually something she’s workshopped before on “Fox & Friends.”
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRISHAM: I think as evidenced by yesterday with Mick, it was again more theater. It is about people wanting to be on TV and making names for themselves. It had become, again, theater, and they weren’t being good to his people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Ooh, Stephanie. You got to increase your vocabulary, I mean, your criticism. Theater now has been used twice.
I mean, Grisham clearly doesn’t get to Broadway enough if she, you know, thinks those press conferences are theater. Maybe on one of these seven days a week she’s not doing her job, she can catch maybe a matinee of “Hamilton.” Just tell them Mike Pence sent you – probably get free tickets.
Also, I hate to break it to her but TV reporters are already on TV. So, no need to try to get on TV because that’s where they work, on TV. It’s tough to grasp, but it’s actually how the entire TV medium works. I am on TV right now.
Newspaper reporters, they are covering the White House, so they probably already made a name for themselves. You know what I mean? It’s a position – it used to be kind of an exalted position – people wanted to be there covering it because important things happened at the old White Houses. Holding the President and his staff to account, that’s not theater. Theater is, I don’t know, the president spending taxpayer dollars on a military parade for the purpose of fluffing his own ego, that would be theater. Theater is, you know, campaigning next to a pile of steaks that you claim your company sells but, in fact, someone on your staff bought them at a nearby butcher.
Theater – remember when that happened? I can’t believe that actually happened. The steaks used to be sold, I’m in a tizzy, used to be sold at a sharper image when he actually sold steaks. Theater is standing in front of bunch of novelty size stacks of paper and telling the American people you’re not going to have anything to do with your family business, which you then spend your presidency pushing money toward.
Stephanie Grisham can say whatever she wants from her perch on “Fox & Friends,” but you know what? When she finally exits the stage as all the president’s people seem to do, whether they want to or not, let’s see whether the president is in a tizzy or not when he delivers her review on “The Ridiculist.”