Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich slammed CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday after Tapper cut off White House senior adviser Stephen Miller in the middle of an interview.
“It was very sad to see Jake Tapper, whose book on Afghanistan I really admire, be so condescending and unself aware with Stephen Miller,” Newt Gingrich tweeted Sunday morning.
Tapper interviewed Miller on Sunday’s episode of CNN’s State of the Union, where the two sparred over Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.
Things escalated when Miller tried to defend President Donald Trump in the interview and blasted CNN’s critical coverage of the president.
When asked whether he thought Trump’s tweets show the president’s stability, Miller said, “I think in the toxic environment that you’ve created here, and CNN and cable news, which is a real crisis of legitimacy for your network … the president’s tweets absolutely reaffirm the plainspoken truth,” Miller said.
Tapper did not hide his displeasure with Miller, claiming that the senior White House adviser only cared about pleasing Trump.
“I get it. There’s one viewer that you care about right now, and you’re being obsequious and you’re being a factotum in order to please him, OK,” Tapper told Miller.
“And I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time. Thank you, Stephen,” he said, abruptly cutting off the senior White House adviser.
President Trump fired off a tweet shortly after the interview mocking Tapper as a “CNN flunky” who “got destroyed” by Miller.
“Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration,” Trump tweeted. “Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!”
Tapper responded to the president’s tweet telling viewers of the show to make judgments for themselves about the interview.