CNN's Anderson Cooper Attacks Kayleigh McEnany's Husband, Walks It Back After She Dunks Him

There was much gnashing of the teeth in media circles Wednesday during and after the daily White House press briefing.

The “during” part, as my RedState colleague Bonchie reported, was when White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany excoriated Democrats like California Gov. Gavin “Hair Gel” Newsom and CNN’s resident tough guy Chris “Fredo” Cuomo for not practicing what they mandate/preach about people following government COVID mandates and CDC guidelines.

The “after” part came as the briefing concluded. According to Wednesday’s chosen “print pool reporter” Chris Johnson from the Washington Blade, New York Times photographer Doug Mills “politely pointed out” to McEnany’s husband Sean Gilmartin that he was required to wear a mask per WHCA rules. Johnson also claimed Gilmartin shouted out “you crushed it!” to McEnany as she walked away from the podium:

Postscript: There was an encounter in the @WhiteHouse briefing room between @dougmillsnyt and @PressSec husband @GilmartinSean for not wearing a mask, as noted by print pool reporter @chrisjohnson82. pic.twitter.com/hkCwId2tZ4

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) December 2, 2020

Johnson later clarified that it wasn’t Gilmartin who shouted out the cheer to McEnany but a reporter from First Class Fatherhood:

Update from @chrisjohnson82: An earlier pool report attributed the “You crushed it!” comment to Kayleigh’s spouse. That’s incorrect. The person who shouted that was a reporter from First Class Fatherhood. Your pooler regrets the error, but stands by the rest of the report.

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) December 2, 2020

Several hours later during his “360” program, CNN’s Anderson “Karen” Cooper jabbed both McEnany and her husband for the alleged shout-out and also over neither of them wearing masks. Newsbusters’ Nicholas Fondacaro recaps:

“As she left the briefing room, a voice was heard to say, ‘You crushed it, Kayleigh.’ It was her husband. He’d been there the entire time in the cramped space,” Cooper claimed. A video of Gilmartin standing in the back of the room with his arms crossed flashed on the screen. A circle appeared around him, like CNN was trying to point out the second shooter on the grassy knoll.

Cooper: “By the way, not wearing a mask even though a New York Times photographer pointed out he was breaking the rules, which were set up because, in the real world, Kayleigh McEnany and several members of the press have caught the coronavirus.”

Watch video of Cooper’s swipe at McEnany and Gilmartin below, via MRC-TV:

The problem, as you might have already guessed, is that Cooper was going off of the initial pool report about the shout-out, which as I noted above was later corrected.

McEnany blasted Cooper on the Twitter machine for getting it wrong:

FAKE NEWS from @CNN that is disproven by the official White House Pool Report written by a reporter.

WATCH @andersoncooper FALSELY claim my husband cheered for me at the White House Press Briefing & read the pool report below noting it was actually a reporter cheering! pic.twitter.com/MmpAIBxT7S

— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) December 3, 2020

Pool Report ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/3m9Iiil2Vh

— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) December 3, 2020

Cooper later posted a tweet noting his mistake after McEnany corrected him:

On 360 tonight we said Kayleigh McEnany’s husband cheered her on during today’s press briefing. The report was based on a pool report from inside the room. That pool report was later corrected, noting it was not Kayleigh’s husband who cheered her on. Our apologies for the error.

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) December 3, 2020

As to the mask-shaming, McEnany didn’t address that part of Cooper’s rant, and likely for the same reason the rest of us don’t take CNN seriously on mask reports: We’re all still waiting on Cooper and his colleagues to publicly rebuke fellow anchor Chris Cuomo for repeatedly breaking the rules he, Cooper, and others in the media demand the little people obey. Stay tuned…