Jake Tapper Refuses to Have Kayleigh McEnany on His Show Because She ‘Lies the Way Most People Breathe’

Jake Tapper explained his reasoning to Brian Stelter on CNN‘s Reliable Sources as to why he doesn’t interview certain Trump supporters or colleagues. He said it has to do with the lies and the lengths they’ll go to weave the falsities that make him avoid having to do any interviews with those in question. He said the biggest offender of this is White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany.

“There are some people that are mendacious, I just wouldn’t put them on air,” Tapper began his explanation before explaining why he never booked McEnany or campaign adviser Jason Miller. “These are just people who tell lies the way that most people breathe. There was no value in that.” Stelter mentioned how in 2017 Kellyanne Conway would appear on CNN but then with each interview from pro-Trump supporters, the network began to dial back the appearances. “I don’t view Kellyanne Conway the same way,” Tapper explained. “She was a senior adviser to the president and more of a filibuster, subject-changer, than a liar. I thought it was different.” The difference, Tapper said, between the two women has to do with McEnany spewing lies and not acknowledging reality, “I’m just not going to put someone like that on air.”

After seeing this interview air, McEnany didn’t waste any time calling out Tapper in a tweet. “This is a therapy session, and [Jake Tapper] is lazy enough to participate in lobbing baseless personal attacks with ZERO evidence.” She added that Tapper is the “real problem” and that her only job is to “call the lies of the media” out.

In that same appearance on Reliable Sources, Tapper also called out reporters who he said fell for Trump’s narrative, which made it a tough task covering his four-year term. “Trump was very skilled at making facts and decency into partisan issues,” Tapper explained. That is what he claims “a lot of people fell for,” including reporters. He added that what made it “challenging” for them was that if they wrote something one way or covered it in a certain matter, they could be labeled one thing. “I feel like a lot of our colleagues in the news media failed that test,” Tapper surmised.