Former Congressman Joe Walsh had sharp criticisms for Stephen Miller's contentious appearance on CNN's State of the Union, accusing the White House senior policy adviser of being “there to filibuster.”
“Stephen Miller was there to filibuster and hurl personal insults,” Walsh wrote in a tweet on Sunday. @jaketapper was there to ask questions and dialogue. Miller looked small. Tapper looked professional. “I like Stephen Miller, but he was afraid to debate Tapper this morning. Which is why he filibustered.”
Miller was "by turns combative and obsequious" during his appearance on the show, notes Chris Cillizza, CNN's Editor-at-large, resulting in host Jake Tapper cutting the interview short before Miller had finished answering questions on Donald Trump, the media, and explosive remarks made by Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon in Fire and Fury, a tell-all book by journalist Michael Wolff.
“It's tragic and unfortunate that Steve would make these grotesque comments so out of touch with reality and obviously so vindictive and the whole White House staff is deeply disappointed in his comments, which were grotesque," Miller said.
And that wasn't all. Some highlights:
- ON CNN'S COVERAGE OF THE BOOK: "Your network's been going 24/7 with all the salacious coverage. ... I know that it brings a lot of you guys a lot of joy to trying to stick the knife in."
- ON THE CONTENT OF THE BOOK ITSELF: "But what I can tell you unequivocally is that the allegations and insinuations in this book, which are -- which are a pure work of fiction, are nothing but a pile of trash through and through."
- ON TRUMP'S POLITICAL PERFORMANCE: "The reality is, is the President is a political genius who won against a field of 17 incredibly talented people."
- ON BANNON'S ROLE IN THE ADMINISTRATION: "I think that what the point is, is that his role has been greatly exaggerated, whereas the President hasn't gotten the due that he deserves for the movement that he put together to tap into the kinds of people whose life concerns don't get a lot of attention on CNN."
- ON TRUMP'S TWEETING: "The President's tweets absolutely reaffirm the plainspoken truth."
- A COPIOUS AMOUNT OF WORD SALAD: "The investigation is referenced in the beginning of the final letter that was released to point out about the fact that, notwithstanding having been informed that there is no investigation, that the -- that the move that is happening is completely unrelated to that."
- ONCE THE INTERVIEW STARTS TO GO OFF THE RAILS: "You know, Jake, you can be -- no, no, you can condescending."
- AND AGAIN: "No, you can -- you can condescending."
- AND AGAIN: "I will tell you why I'm attacking you."
- AND AGAIN: "If you want to have an answer to your question, and not to get hysterical, then I will answer it."
Miller continued to lament the president's treatment, prompting Tapper to respond that there was only "one viewer you care about right now."
"I think I've wasted enough of my viewers' time. Thank you, Stephen," Tapper said, bringing the interview to an abrupt end. After the taping was finished, Miller was asked to leave several times, according to several sources who said Miller ignored those requests resulting in him being escorted out by a security team. CNN declined to comment.
The full interview is below:
The president, however, had different thoughts on the interview.
"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!" he tweeted.
The president also leveled more criticisms at the book, which has become a runaway bestseller since the publisher moved up its release date. (According to an employee of New York's Strand Bookstore who spoke to Second Nexus on condition of anonymity, 255 copies of Fire and Fury arrived on Friday at 4 PM––and were all gone by 6 PM.)
Trump also continued to refer to Steve Bannon as "Sloppy Steve."
He also used the book's release as another opportunity to attempt to discredit the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election...
...and found the time to compare his struggles to those of former President Ronald Reagan.
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