White House Press Secretary Slams Press For Leaks In A Memo That She Encourages The Press To Leak
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham sent out a memo to various media outlets both slamming them for leaking details of a conversation earlier this week with Donald Trump — while also encouraging the press to leak that very memo. Washington Post reporter Erik Wemple tweeted a copy of the memo on Thursday, revealing the details of the situation.
Trump met with TV reporters and news anchors prior to his State of the Union address on Tuesday night for a conversation that was subsequently leaked to the press and published by various outlets. Grisham called the leaks “disappointing” and the “height of hypocrisy.”
But later in the memo, she stated that she “wouldn’t mind if this email leaked.”
Grisham slammed reporters for betraying the president’s confidence after he skipped lunch to meet with them and “graciously gave you a couple of items on the record and then spoke frankly, honestly, and most importantly in good faith that it was off the record.”
She claims that within the hour, the White House was inundated by inquiries attempting to confirm what the president had said during the meeting.
“To me, it is the height of hypocrisy that a press who bemoans the perceived lack of ethical behavior in this Administration, so brazenly violates its very own standards. Accountability is, after all, one of the five core principles of journalism,” she wrote.
She accused the press of violating its own calls to hold powerful people accountable because the media itself isn’t, in her opinion, held to account.
“The media cries for more access but cannot adhere to a simple agreed upon standard of off-the-record, which allowed your colleagues who were not in attendance, to break news for you,” she continued.
Grisham concluded that she would be fine if the press leaked the memo but said that she doubted they would because it would force them to admit to the leaks.
Wemple’s own employer the Post published a story prior to the State of the Union leaking information about Rush Limbaugh being awarded the Medal of Freedom. It noted that several people in the room during the off-the-record conversation shared details about the award, although it didn’t note who its sources were.
It isn’t clear how Grisham determined that it was the press who leaked the information, rather than the White House itself.
Asked about Stephanie Grisham's comments that Trump will perhaps make people "pay" for impeachment, Pelosi says, "They are giving people encouragement to do things. Just like Charlottesville… I don't even want to go into the target I am because of them." pic.twitter.com/ZQwLxvh1o3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 6, 2020
The press secretary made news Thursday after she suggested that Trump might make people “pay” for the impeachment inquiry.
