MSNBC flashed some bitterness on Wednesday afternoon following President Trump’s first joint press conference of 2018, complaining that Trump only called on “conservative outlets” Washington Examiner and the Fox News Channel with only the latter one offering “a challenging question.”
“He did take two questions from U.S.-based reporters. They were both from conservative outlets, the Washington Examiner and Fox, although John Roberts at Fox did ask him a challenging question that he didn’t answer about being interviewed by Robert Mueller and how that’ll go,” bemoaned MSNBC Live host Ali Velshi.
NBC’s Peter Alexander was in the room for the press conference between the President and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, but obviously did not get a question. He agreed with Velshi’s assessment that the President made news despite the questions from Roberts and the Washington Examiner’s Sarah Westwood:
The President, obviously, called on two conservative outlets, the Washington Examiner and Fox News and when pressed with a question by my colleague at Fox News, John Roberts, specifically about whether he would commit to sitting down without conditions under oath with the special counsel, Robert Mueller, the President deflected.
Moments later, Alexander rattled off some of “[t]he other questions that could have been posed” to Solberg, such as Trump’s decision for the U.S. to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Velshi complimented Alexander by telling him in another small dig at Roberts and Westwood that “I always like when you get a question because you always think up these really good questions.”
Now, at no point did Alexander or Velshi state what they didn’t like about Westwood’s question. With that in mind, here’s what she asked the President:
Yesterday in a meeting with lawmakers, you said that you would be open to signing just about any immigration deal that that bipartisan group of lawmakers sent to you. Would you be willing to sign an immigration deal that ultimately does not include funding for the border wall? Or would that be a red line for you?
So, Westwood asked a relevant question pertaining to immigration since it’s been in the news and will be going forward. The press should want to ask the President about what exactly he wants out of an immigration deal. Any notion that her question wasn’t tough or unimportant is ludicrous.
Not surprisingly, the liberal media have done this before. On February 15, 2017 when Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, some liberal journalists went crazy when CBN’s David Brody and Townhall’s Katie Pavlich were called on.
Before that on February 4, the sour grapes were plentiful as these journalists expressed fury at Trump calling on Sinclair’s Scott Thuman and then-Daily Caller reporter Kaitlan Collins: ABC’s Jonathan Karl, CNN’s Gloria Borger, Dylan Byers and Wolf Blitzer, MSNBC’s Brian Williams and Katy Tur, New York Times correspondent Peter Baker, and The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler.
The CNN reporters now look particularly foolish since Collins joined CNN in June and has been a prominently featured White House reporter.
Here’s the relevant transcript from January 10's MSNBC Live with Ali Velshi:
MSNBC Live with Ali Velshi
January 10, 2018
3:34 p.m. Eastern
ALI VELSHI: He did take two questions from U.S.-based reporters. They were both from conservative outlets, the Washington Examiner and Fox, although John Roberts at Fox did ask him a challenging question that he didn’t answer about being interviewed by Robert Mueller and how that’ll go and that’s when the President said he was — there was no collusion. He must have said that 15 times in his one answer. Anyway, the point is we got something in out of it. Peter Alexander is standing by with more on that. It wasn't — it doesn't rank among the crazier press conferences that we’ve had. There were some real questions and some answers.
PETER ALEXANDER:: Yeah, no. I think that's right, Ali. The President, obviously, called on two conservative outlets, the Washington Examiner and Fox News and when pressed with a question by my colleague at Fox News, John Roberts, specifically about whether he would commit to sitting down without conditions under oath with the special counsel, Robert Mueller, the President deflected. He repeated what he said over the course of the last many months that there is no collusion. Only said we'll see in terms of willing ins to sit down with Robert Mueller
(....)
3:36 p.m. Eastern
ALEXANDER: The other questions that could have been posed to her are interesting. Obviously, Norway played host to the Oslo Accords, you know, the issue of Jerusalem. The president declaring it the capital of Israel in recent weeks, is something that's controversial worldwide. What is Norway's position on that? Does that hurt or help the effort worldwide to promote peace in the Middle East? But I think she was savvy, this is the Prime Minister Solberg, in the way she answered the questions. The president smiled as she answered those things, deflecting more often than not, saying in effect, the U.S. is entitled to address its own issues as it sees fit, Ali.
VELSHI: Yeah, no, she did a good job. I always like when you get a question because you always think up these really good questions. Peter, good to see you, as always.
ALEXANDER: We try.
