CNN Reporter Melts Down After Trump Campaign Spox Uses CNN Link to Disprove Her Coronavirus Claims

AP featured image — Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room, April 13, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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CNN anchor Brianna Keilar had Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh on the network earlier today to talk about the Trump administration’s Wuhan virus response. As things often do on CNN when a Trump official is part of a segment, the interview got contentious fast.

Keilar disputed numerous claims made by Murtaugh, including statements about how Dr. Anthony Fauci has recommended the use of the Trump-touted hydroxychloroquine and how some studies have shown it’s an effective drug when used in concert with other treatments.

You’ll remember that the media and Democrats have spent almost the entirety of the outbreak trying to downplay the drug as a possible coronavirus treatment because Orange Man Bad. Studies have been mixed on it, with some showing some successes in using the drug and others not. Some of the studies the media have definitively touted as debunking the idea of using hydroxychloroquine as a treatment either used flawed methodology (read about another one here), were discredited, or were actually retracted .

You can watch the full Keilar/Murtaugh interview here, but the more entertaining fireworks came after their on-air battle when Keilar made the mistake of confronting Murtaugh on Twitter after some of her CNN colleagues rushed to her defense.

CNN’s Kyle Feldscher posted the following two tweets, which Keilar used to claim that Murtaugh was lying bout what Fauci had said about hydroxychloroquine. Here’s what Feldscher tweeted:

Story: https://t.co/ox2Ft4PEHR

— Kyle Feldscher (@Kyle_Feldscher) July 21, 2020

Keiler fired off the tweet to Murtaugh:

Paging @TimMurtaugh You literally just made stuff up about what Dr. Fauci said. https://t.co/k5hqIYp0Ow

— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) July 21, 2020

Murtaugh, however, had brought receipts to the game and posted this audio of Fauci talking in late March about whether or not he would advise doctors to prescribe the drug:

Actually I didn’t.https://t.co/nH8vZfZqny https://t.co/K5sQaxOF5g

— Tim Murtaugh – Download the Trump 2020 app today! (@TimMurtaugh) July 21, 2020

Keiler did not respond to that tweet, but later posted a link to a CNN story from May where Fauci had backtracked on his earlier recommendation of the drug:

In late May, Dr. Fauci said of hydroxychloroquine, “The scientific data is really quite evident now about the lack of efficacy for it," and a likelihood of "adverse events with regard to cardiovascular." https://t.co/X8j4TGRSnK

— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) July 21, 2020

As Keiler was blitzing her Twitter feed with links that supposedly countered Murtaugh’s claims about Fauci and hydroxychloroquine, Murtaugh fired off a couple more of his own. The first one was a story from Fox News that was just published today:

Here’s one from today.https://t.co/YYX6yVbcHz

— Tim Murtaugh – Download the Trump 2020 app today! (@TimMurtaugh) July 21, 2020

The other link Murtaugh provided? One from just a couple of weeks ago from CNN that talked about how the drug had helped patients survive the coronavirus:

Hey @brikeilarcnn look at this irresponsible news organization endangering people’s lives! https://t.co/7zmNGKxVv3

— Tim Murtaugh – Download the Trump 2020 app today! (@TimMurtaugh) July 21, 2020

Oops!

As of this writing, you can check Keiler’s Twitter feed where she furiously continued to post links she thought backed up her claims (but didn’t).

RedState managing editor Streiff wondered if Keiler would do the right thing and issue an apology for getting so many things wrong:

hey @brikeilarcnn have you apologized yet? I know you don't do journalism all that well, but how about common courtesy after accusing someone of lying?

— streiff (@streiffredstate) July 21, 2020

She didn’t answer, though. After pinning the video of the interview to the top of her page, she finished off her meltdown with this juvenile tweet because apparently we shouldn’t expect reporters to act like mature professionals when doing their jobs: