White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has had a difficult time defending Donald Trump over his controversial executive order that critics have referred to as a "Muslim ban." After Spicer got into a heated exchange with the media on Tuesday, denying the executive order was a "ban," CNN was quick to fact-check the administration.
CNN debunks Spicer
Heading into last weekend, Donald Trump signed a surprising executive order that restricted travel to and from seven different countries in the Middle East, while banning some Muslim in the process. Within minutes, backlash quickly followed, leading to growing protests around the country at various airports.
Two of them men detained at Kennedy International Airport filed a lawsuit, which resulted in a federal judge ordering a stay on the executive order in question. After Sean Spicer denied that the order is a "ban" on Muslims or anyone else during Tuesday's press conference, CNN host Jake Tapper decided to point out the alleged hypocrisy during a January 31 broadcast.
"White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was complaining that members of the media was unfairly using the term 'ban' to describe the president's action," CNN host Jake Tapper said, while showing clips of Spicer from the press conference. Tapper then mockingly pointed out a recent tweet sent out by Donald Trump, who referred to the executive order as a "ban." While this was brought up during the press conference, which Spicer denied was the case, Tapper decided to use further evidence to expose the the administration's falsehoods.
Press Sec.: POTUS made it clear immigration order "is not a Muslim ban, it's not a travel ban, it's a vetting system to keep America safe." pic.twitter.com/QRiQF9X1My
— ABC News (@ABC) January 31, 2017
"It seems odd though, if you object to the term, you shouldn't use it, right?" Tapper asked, before showing a clip of Sean Spicer referring to the executive order as a "ban" during an interview on ABC.
In addition, the CNN host went on to play a clip of Spicer speaking at George Washington University on Monday night. "The ban deals with seven countries that President Obama has previously identified as needing further travel restrictions," Spicer said.
Moving forward
Regardless if the executive order is referred to as a "ban" or not, both the political left and right are at odds, with the media playing a role in fueling the fire against the billionaire real estate mogul. While Donald Trump has only been the commander in chief for just over a week, it doesn't appear that their relationship with the press will be improving anytime soon.
