Bernstein rips 'propaganda minister' Kellyanne Conway: 'One of the great anonymous sources of our era'

Famed journalist Carl Bernstein tore into Kellyanne Conway Wednesday over her callous dismissal of CNN’s reporting, calling the incoming counselor to the president “a propaganda minister.”

On his eponymous show, Anderson Cooper hammered Conway over her refusal to accept a CNN report regarding ties between Russian intermediaries and Donald Trump’s inner circle. as well as allegations that the Russian government has incriminating information about the president-elect.

Conway and members of the Trump team are pushing back hard against CNN’s reporting after BuzzFeed leaked the unverified dossier Tuesday night. At a press conference Wednesday, Trump conflated CNN and BuzzFeed’s separate reports, at one point shouting at CNN’s Jim Acosta, “You are fake news!”

In an extensive interview with Cooper, Conway refused to acknowledge that the CNN and BuzzFeed reports were separate, angering Bernstein—who was part of the CNN team responsible for breaking news about the Trump dossier.

“Let’s talk about what reporting is,” Bernstein said. “It’s the best attainable version of the truth.”

“The chief intelligence officials of the United States of America saw this material, thought that it deserved investigation, thought that it ought to be brought to the attention of the president of the United States and to the president-elect,” he continued, adding that’s “the best attainable version of the truth.”

The Watergate journalist—who knows a thing or two about anonymous sources—then raged against Conway, laying bare his frustration with the incoming counselor to the president.

“One of the great anonymous sources of this era is Kellyanne Conway,” Bernstein. “She does it everyday. She’s been an anonymous source for the last ten months, particularly during this campaign, when it suits her. And it’s time to talk about what we do as journalists and what propaganda ministers do.”

“That is what she is—is a propaganda minister,” he said.

Bernstein went on to defend his and his colleagues’ reporting.

“We did our work,” Bernstein argued, later adding, “That is the story.”

Watch the video below, via CNN: