Kayleigh McEnany is the first White House Press Secretary to hold a briefing in more than a year. She now has one more briefing under her belt than her predecessor Stephanie Grisham, who never spoke with reporters from the briefing room. During her first time at the podium, AP reporter Jill Colvin asked, “Will you pledge to never lie to us?” This question was most likely prompted because past press secretaries Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders were well-known for their lies and spin.
New White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany says in her first press briefing: "I will never lie to you, you have my word on that" https://t.co/FF9qwJlvSK pic.twitter.com/TJLP01ra7Q
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 1, 2020
This response instantly became mocked and fact-checked. Vox writes:
McEnany’s first lie from the White House podium came in response to a question about comments President Donald Trump made earlier in the day characterizing Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden as “far more compelling” than the accusations made against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings. Asked to flesh out Trump’s thinking, McEnany characterized the Kavanaugh allegations as “verifiably false.”
“The salacious, awful, and verifiably false allegations that were made against Justice Kavanaugh” — McEnany just lied, breaking the promise she made not to just minutes ago. The allegations against Kavanaugh were not verifiably false.
It was a good run. pic.twitter.com/XQp1yer9vt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 1, 2020
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale also pointed out “There was a significant misstatement — I’ll put it gently because it is her first briefing — from Kayleigh McEnany about one of these state matters.”
Trump tweeted: "The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire. These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal."
That's not a general tweet about the right to protest.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) May 1, 2020
And then there was McEnany’s defense of Michael Flynn.
.@PressSec just told a whopper about the new Flynn evidence. I explain these lies–and why Team Trump is telling them–in my NEW @nytopinion piece https://t.co/nMp4Rj8b9O https://t.co/Pf8aNiQMLB
— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) May 1, 2020
Press Sec Kayleigh McEnany concluded her first White House briefing by saying Russia probe cost $40m and exonerated Trump. Despite saying she wouldn’t lie, probe actually cost $32m and Mueller did not exonerate.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) May 1, 2020
“Jared Kushner has done a great job for this administration,” says @kayleighmcenany, moments after pledging never to lie.
— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) May 1, 2020