White House aide Sebastian Gorka and CNN’s Chris Cuomo argued about over whether the Trump administration is on message on the terror travel ban.
“There are no games,” Gorka said. “The president can call it whatever he likes because he has the constitutional authority to control whoever comes into this country, Chris. That’s his job. The Constitution, tradition, precedents, and administrative law give him that right. If he wants to call it a ban he’s the president, he’s the chief officer of this administration and he has every right to do that.”
To this, Cuomo responded, “Right, and why wasn’t the administration just honest about it, why have Sean Spicer and you and everybody else say ‘it’s not a ban, it’s just vetting, and you’re trying to make it sound like something it isn’t.’ The president just proved what the truth is – all this has been spin and a distraction. Why?”
“I’m not going to fall into the trap of us being the spinmeisters when CNN is one of the greatest purveyors of fake news,” Gorka interjected. “The fact is it’s been the same from the beginning. From the first EO to the second EO, it’s one thing, Chris, it’s about protecting Americans. And if anybody out there has a problem with us trying to keep Americans safe they need to look in the mirror and they need to ask themselves if they are the purveyors of fake news.”
“It’s always been about who it targets,” Cuomo replied, “how it targets them and whether or not that will keep us safe. And you guys played games about it and said it’s not a ban. I could play you Sean Spicer right now but you know it’s true.”
“And then the president decides to be honest about it this morning,” he continued. “That is spin, you are the purveyor of spin because that was your message that it wasn’t a ban and it was untrue that’s why I’m asking you.”
“So I guess President Obama was also a purveyor of spin with that calculation because the executive order is based upon the Obama White House analysis of the seven nations of greatest concern for immigration into America,” Gorka shot back. “Is he a purveyor of spin, Chris?
“Well that’s an interesting question,” Cuomo replied.
“It is, isn’t it?” Gorka laughed.
The much heated debated devolved into shouting.
“The facts are not your friend because that move with the executive order from the Obama administration was about travel to those countries,” Cuomo claimed. “It was about whose coming in and out and why. Your order is about Muslims. About targeting Muslims and keeping them out and allowing those who are not Muslims a carve-out, to come in. Very different.”
“So if this had anything and I mean anything, to do with race or religion, why would those two nations, the most populous Muslim nation and the most populous Arab nation, not be included in the executive order?” Gorka demanded. “Explain that logic to me, because this is where your spin fails. This is where the fake news propaganda collapses, because if we had some dark dread ulterior motive, then those are the two first nations you would put on the list, not the seven nations the Obama White House identified as the greatest concern. So please answer that question.”
The debate stirred up as President Trump tweeted on Monday, calling his executive order to “ban” travel from terror-stricken countries.