'I'll never lie to you': Trump's new press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tells reporters in maiden briefing
She is the fourth member to take up the plum post in little over three years and on Friday, May 1, Kayleigh McEnany spoke for the first time as the White House press secretary. She made it a memorable one by pledging that she would never lie to the media. The 32-year-old succeeded Stephanie Grisham, who never addressed the press in her nine-month tenure and moved to become the chief of staff in the office of FLOTUS Melania Trump, on April 7.
McEnany, a former CNN commentator who also served as the national spokesperson of the Republican National Committee, is known for her polished demeanor. A Donald Trump sympathizer and a former spokesperson of his 2020 campaign, McEnany got into the business right away on Friday by fielding a series of questions from the press covering the coronavirus pandemic and her plans on communicating with the media and the people of America.
“I will never lie to you, you have my word on that,” she said at a time when the relation between the Trump administration and the media has hit a low, especially over the government’s response to the crisis that has affected more than 1.1 million people and left almost 65,000 dead.
During her maiden appearance, McEnany spoke about President Trump’s ‘total exoneration’ in the Russia investigation; called fired national security advisor Mike Flynn an “honorable man” and plugged an upcoming appearance of the president on Fox News.
Speaking about her own access to Trump who prefers to handle his own communication, McEnany said: “I’m around the president almost the entire day.” She also said that she is with him consistently to absorb his thinking.
McEnany blasted Pelosi for posing in front of personal ice-cream refrigerator
McEnany was in the news after she took over as the press secretary, not for any official address but her sharp reaction to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s TV interview standing in front of her luxury refrigerator filled with costly ice-cream pints at home. She blasted the veteran Democrat on 'Fox & Friends' for not being present in Washington and cooperating with Trump in the fight against coronavirus.
The White House brass will be expecting McEnany to be a worthy successor to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the most prominent of Trump’s press secretaries so far for her combative take against the media. She has also been the longest-serving of all the secretaries so far with a stint of almost two years.
McEnany, whose Twitter profile (@presssec) features an image of a seated Trump pointing fingers towards her as she is seated next to deputy White House spokesman Hogan Gidley, said she plans to continue with the briefings but added that they would be more driven by the news of the day. Her briefing was the first to be held in 417 days. The last one was done by Sanders on March 11, 2019.
During her first address to the press, McEnany brought up the issue of Flynn on her own. Recent revelations showed an FBI official writing whether to get the fired Flynn ‘to lie’ so that he could be prosecuted. The press secretary called Flynn an ‘honorable man who served his country’ and put the ball in the reporters’ court by asking whether the FBI’s move was appropriate.
When asked about the administration’s response to the pandemic, McEnany praised Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner saying he has done a great job. She concluded her talks by bashing the Mueller probe amid speculation about ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ and $40 million of taxpayers’ money being lost and the complete and total exoneration of the president.