Hogan Gidley, the deputy White House press secretary, appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Mediabuzz” with host Howard Kurtz on Sunday and made very clear why President Donald Trump continues to use Twitter and other methods for getting his thoughts and messages directly to the American people.
Gidley also explained why members of the White House staff needed to explain the president’s “behavior” at a recent meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader: It’s because the mainstream media almost never share an accurate characterization of exactly what was said or of the mood and demeanor of the meetings or of the president himself.
That recent meeting continues to be discussed widely as Pelosi and other Democrats toss out allegations of a “cover-up” by the president.
Kurtz asked Gidley if he found it awkward for advisers to need to vouch for the president in regard to his behavior.
Related: Trump at White House Says Pelosi’s ‘Lost It,’ Says Dems Can’t Work on Two Tracks at Once
“Absolutely not,” said Gidley. “We have to vouch for him all the time. It’s amazing how the media covers what he does and what he says in a slant that makes everything negative, no matter how positive the subject matter may be.”
Gidley also explained that the president delivered his thoughts and “left the meeting. There was no time limit set beforehand … He walked in and gave a statement to Nancy Pelosi, who just minutes before had accused him of engaging in a cover-up, engaging in a crime with no proof and no evidence, and quite frankly, that’s like Russia collusion — witch hunt hoax 2.0. They did this for two years, where they accuse[d] him of colluding with a foreign power with no proof and no evidence. And now they’re saying he’s in a cover-up and they’ve [provided] no evidence.”
“And not one media member,” added Gidley, “has asked Nancy Pelosi two questions: One, what proof do you have for any of this? Where’s the evidence? And second of all, if you have all this proof and all you have all of this evidence, why do you need all these investigations? Just show us the proof and evidence and we’ll get it done today.”
“It’s amazing how the media covers what he does and what he says in a slant that makes everything negative, no matter how positive the subject matter may be.”
Kurtz probed further about the relationship with the media on both the Democrats’ part and on Trump’s part.
“When he leaves a meeting with Nancy Pelosi and all they do is mischaracterize his demeanor and take whatever she says, you know, lock, stock and barrel — I mean, it would be so nice if we had a complicit, compliant media the way the Democrats do, and we don’t,” said Gidley. “But that’s the game and we understand that. That’s why the president takes everything directly to the American people so often, via Twitter and other ends.”
He referenced the current “gridlock between these polarized camps. What the president did was [he] came [into office] and said, ‘Listen, I don’t care about this, the swamp mentality. I’m a different kind of person. I’m a businessman. I like to get things done.’ He set record-setting accomplishments in record-setting time.”
Regarding the president’s criticism of former Vice President Joe Biden as a Democratic candidate for the 2020 presidential election, Gidley noted, “Vice President Biden has a much higher name I.D. than anybody else, and so the president’s going to come out and counterpunch when people attack him. And that’s what he’s going to do regardless [of] whether you’re running for president or whether you’re sitting in Congress right now.”
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