CNN interview with Stephen Miller turns ugly
Jake Tapper abruptly ends interview with senior White House policy adviser, accuses him of wasting viewers' time; reaction from Howard Kurtz, Fox News media analyst and host of 'MediaBuzz.'
White House policy adviser and Trump loyalist Stephen Miller tried to finish his combative conversation with CNN’s Jake Tapper after the cameras stopped rolling on Sunday but the anchor wanted no part of it, according to a CNN source.
Miller, an architect of Trump’s immigration policy, was cut off by Tapper during an appearance on “State of the Union” during a heated interview. The CNN anchor eventually said, “I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time,” when the two men couldn’t come to an on-camera agreement regarding Michael Wolff’s controversial anti-Trump book.
Fox News has obtained a transcript of the conversation that occurred off-camera immediately after Tapper cut Miller off and the show went to commercial. Miller and Tapper argued about the headline-making interview until the commercial break was about to wrap up and the live set had to be cleared.
“I let you give like a three-minute filibuster at the very top,” Tapper said before Miller fired back, “You gave me two minutes.”
Miller, an architect of Trump’s immigration policy, was cut off by Tapper during an appearance on “State of the Union” during a heated interview.
Tapper then tried to wrap things up, thanking Miller for coming in.
“You should be ashamed of yourself, honestly,” Miller said.
Tapper then got personal, telling Miller that “this is the reason they don’t put you out on TV.”
“I’m not acting offended. I am offended. I’m offended by you and I’m offended by your network.”
The two then bickered, with Miller declaring that he was brought on to talk about the recent Camp David summit and Tapper accusing Miller of “telling the same story over and over” and “attacking” CNN.
“Don’t act all offended,” Tapper told Miller.
“I’m not acting offended. I am offended. I’m offended by you and I’m offended by your network.”
Miller was then escorted off set because the show was coming back from a commercial break, according to the insider who pointed out that “it was a live set” and it was not quite as scandalous as “being thrown out.”
Tapper eventually said, “I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time,” when the two men couldn’t come to an on-camera agreement regarding Michael Wolff’s controversial anti-Trump book. (Reuters)
Business Insider reported on Sunday that Miller refused to leave and had to be escorted off the set. CNN did not offer a public statement about the incident, but a staffer confirmed the events on background to a CBS reporter who used the information like it was an official statement, prompting a CNN public relations vice president to head to Twitter to clarify.
“This is not a statement from CNN. We did not issue a statement,” CNN's Matt Dornic wrote. “You need to correct… I don’t know your source. But we did not issue any such statement.”
A CNN insider told Fox News that putting out an official network statement would give the incident “more weight than it deserves” and the network wasn’t looking to make a big fuss out of Miller’s behavior. CNN is a familiar target for Trump and Miller, with each having publicly sparred with the network’s star chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta. Trump frequently says the cable TV network puts out “fake news.”
“Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!” Trump tweeted after the interview aired.
Miller did not respond to request for comment. CNN did not respond when asked for an official comment
Fox News’ Joseph Weber contributed to this report.
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