‘Today’s Craig Melvin Issues 6-Word Response to Marco Rubio’s Defense of Donald Trump
What To Know
- Craig Melvin challenged Secretary of State Marco Rubio on NBC’s Today show regarding President Trump’s ban of certain news outlets from the White House.
- Rubio defended the ban by stating that while outlets like CNN and Politico are barred from the White House workspace, they are not being shut down or prevented from covering the administration.
- Melvin pressed Rubio on whether the ban was appropriate, but Rubio maintained that the president has the right to restrict access.
Today co-anchor Craig Melvin pushed back against U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio‘s remarks about President Donald Trump‘s banning several news outlets from the White House.
On Tuesday, September 22, Melvin spoke with Rubio live on the NBC morning show.
“Maybe you’re not gonna like to hear this,” Rubio said. “But I watch a lot of American news coverage, and it sounds in some cases, for example, like they’re rooting for Iran. It sounds like they highlight anything Iran says and all their public statements as true, and they downplay everything American officials say as wrong. I don’t think that is what’s behind this, but I think there’s a trend line here…”
That’s when Melvin cut him off to ask, “With all due respect, should media outlets be banned because the president doesn’t like their coverage?”
To that, Rubio answered, “Well, they’re not banned.”
“They are banned!” Melvin insisted. “They’re banned from the White House.”
@todayshowSecretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to TODAY’s Craig Melvin about President Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters from the White House. “The president feels very strongly that why should I have people working in my building and in my office that I believe are not honestly covering my administration?” Rubio says.♬ original sound – TODAY Show
However, Rubio pointed out that Trump was not closing down the news outlet, just prohibiting direct access to the White House.
Still, Melvin pressed, “Does it sit right with you?”
Rubio explained, “I think the White House feels very strongly, the president feels very strongly that, ‘Why should I have people working in my building and my office that I believe are not honestly covering my administration?’ That’s how he feels.”
He continued, “We’re not closing CNN. There aren’t a bunch of police officers or soldiers kicking down the doors of MSNBC or MS Now — whatever it’s called — and arresting people, and unplugging it from the grid. They’re just not allowed to work from the workspace at the White House.”
When Melvin inquired about changes to Rubio’s traveling pool of reporters, the Secretary of State admitted, “We haven’t discussed it… This is the White House about coverage in the White House. I’ll do a press conference today, and I imagine there’ll be reporters there from every outlet.”
Rubio added, “I don’t ask them who they’re with and so forth. And I don’t think the White House is saying they’re not able to cover the president. They’re gonna all write stories and do stories about the president. What he is arguing is, ‘Why should I have these people? What right do they have to be embedded in this building?’ They can cover the White House, they just can’t have a desk there.”
Today, Weekdays, 7am, NBC
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