All posts tagged "brianna keilar"

'No, that's not what I said': CNN anchor gets testy on GOP lawmaker over Trump remarks

A CNN anchor had a fiery reaction in a conversation with a Republican Indiana state lawmaker on Monday, as Indiana leaders in the Senate will vote to decide on redistricting in the state.

State Rep. Andrew Ireland said it was "backwards" to try and blame President Donald Trump for swatting or other attacks on opponents and other lawmakers after his comments on his perceived enemies during a conversation with CNN anchor Brianna Keilar. Keilar pressed the Republican lawmaker over his comment.

"Does the president of the United States have any responsibility to try and mitigate it when you see swatting going on, happening after he says something on social media about a lawmaker?" Keilar asked.

Ireland responded by pointing to local law enforcement and their responsibility to protect citizens.

"The big piece of it there is law enforcement holding people accountable in the first place...," Ireland said. "But the president calling out political opponents or advocating for a position is not the same thing as going and inciting swatting, if that's what you're getting at."

Keilar pushed back.

"No, that's not what I said," Keilar said. "If someone, if a president, were to politically target you, and then you suffer one of these swatting incidents, would you hope that the rhetoric might be tamped down? Is that a reasonable thing to hope for or expect from the leader of the country?"

Ireland said that he didn't believe you could "...tie somebody's truth Social posts or their tweets to bad and illegal behavior by another person... I don't think the president is doing anything he shouldn't be doing."

Trump was criticized by multiple lawmakers and advocates for calling Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a derogatory slur. Michael Bohacek, an Indiana state senator and Republican, has said he will not support the redistricting effort in the state after the president's comments.

Trump has made multiple demands to Republican lawmakers across the United States. The president had called on GOP legislators to redraw congressional maps in states all over the country, but Indiana Republicans — even in deep-red Trump districts — made clear to their elected representatives that they do not want to go along with the scheme.

MAGA lawmaker gets snippy with CNN anchor: 'You interrupted me!'

A MAGA lawmaker got snippy with a CNN anchor during a live broadcast Friday, complaining, "You interrupted me!"

Assistant Whip Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) joined CNN's Brianna Keilar to discuss the ground stop at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport due to staffing shortages as the government shutdown drags on, and how FAA staffing problems have ended previous stalemates and forced the government to reopen.

Keilar moved the conversation to the subject of food stamp benefits, which two federal judges ruled Friday must be continued to be funded by the Trump administration and the U.S.Department of Agriculture, as the deadline for funding the program was slated to run out Saturday.

"The question I'm asking you, because you're a Republican and that is your party — and that is your party in the White House making that decision — do you think it's fair to just to the country's most needy as leverage?" Keilar asked.

"I was just about to answer when you interrupted me, because the blame is not just on this administration, because this administration is not the one that voted to shut down the government. It was the Senate Democrats that chose to," Malliotakis shot back.

"But what I'm simply saying is, if the Democrats are not going to vote to reopen the government, they want to continue using this leverage and inflict this type of pain in the American people unnecessarily. Then what I think the president and the administration should do is what they've done with the Women, Infants, and Children program," she said. "They were able to find some money to shift funds to continue that program, very critical for young families that I represent. They found funds from Pentagon research and development to be able to pay our military. And as I said earlier, they should do the same here, if given, which they seem to have received green lights from the judges to allow them to use it."

'People don't care!' MAGA Republican repeatedly cut off on CNN

A CNN anchor repeatedly cut off a MAGA Republican as he kept repeating the same finger-pointing excuses about the government shutdown on Thursday, telling him, "People don't care!"

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) joined CNN anchor Brianna Keilar to discuss how Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are slated to be eliminated this weekend, as the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that nearly 8% of its total workforce has been furloughed during the shutdown.

Keilar cut off the veteran and former Army Ranger several times in the interview as he made claims blaming Democrats for the stalemate.

"This isn't a blue state or red state thing," Keilar said, cutting Davidson off.

"Can you gain this out for us? If we get to this weekend, open enrollment opens, right? And you have Americans starting to see the cost of their insurance premiums go up significantly without the [Affordable Care Act] subsidies that are expiring. And the Democrats are demanding be extended. That's kind of, you know, the hill they're dying on in this thing. Does that change the dynamic of this standoff as you see it?" Keilar asked.

"No, I mean, so let's be clear whose premiums are going up," Davidson said. "Everyone's subsidies that you're talking about are Obamacare subsidies from Covid that Democrats put on during Covid so that in the midst of a pandemic."

Then Keilar cut him off again.

"OK. But that doesn't — that's going to everyone's — I hear what you're saying, and I hear Republicans say that, congressman. But the fact is, people don't care," she said. "They look at the bottom line, they look at how much it costs them. They see a massive increase in their bottom line. That some argument about it being from Covid, while a great discussion for us to have, doesn't matter for someone, a Democrat or a Republican, right? They're going to see the cost increase. Does that increase the pressure?"

Apparently, it doesn't, Davidson said.

"It doesn't increase the pressure on me," he responded. "No Republicans ever voted for Obamacare. Obamacare for Democrats is working as it was designed to do. It was designed to administer a fatal overdose of government to America's health care economy. And it is. And it keeps failing. And the only way to keep it alive is to keep pumping more cash into it. And that raises the market price. The market price becomes the price plus the subsidies. And so everyone is feeling this pain. And it was by design that Obamacare did this. Republicans have said that all along. No Republican has ever voted for Obamacare. John McCain famously declined to get rid of it, but no Republican voted for these subsidies either. And even Democrats didn't have the votes to make them permanent when they put them in. So now they want Republicans to do what they fail to do. And by the way, this isn't the only thing that they're negotiating over. They say their whole 1.5 trillion package or nothing. So they want the whole thing."

'Fail': CNN cracks up at nuclear expert's brutal takedown of Trump's big plan for the moon

CNN's Brianna Keilar introduced nuclear policy analyst Joe Cirincione to discuss the Trump administration's big plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon.

She mentioned Cirincione's book, "Nuclear Nightmares: Securing the world before it is too late," before segueing into the subject at hand.

"Speaking of nuclear nightmares, last we spoke to you, it was about nuclear wasps, radioactive wasps," Keilar said. "Now we're talking about a nuclear reactor on the moon, which raises some safety concerns."

"Well, if the purpose of this announcement was to distract attention from the Epstein files, it briefly succeeded," Cirincione quipped as Keilar and co-host Boris Sanchez cracked up. "Sean Duffy was trending on social media for the last 24 hours right behind Ghislaine Maxwell."

He continued, "But if it's to propose a serious plan for the human colonization of Mars, I think it fails the test."

Cirincione said that a small, modular, launchable nuclear reactor has been in the cards for a while, but Duffy's announcement "actually resets the timeline that NASA set just five years ago of being able to have a nuclear reactor ready to launch by 2026," Cirincione said.

"Now, he's proposing 2030 for a bigger reactor, about 10 times the size of the one that was originally proposed several years ago. I just don't see the technology available. I don't think we're going to be able to make this technological leap, but we are certainly going to spend billions of dollars trying to do so, probably at the at the expense of other vital NASA missions."

Cirincione said that such a mission would "require a launch vehicle that doesn't yet exist, require a reactor that doesn't yet exist, and pose some serious safety hazards themselves, like the risk of failure of the system, the explosion of the system, or another launch failure as they try to put this in orbit and then onto the moon. I don't think the risks are worth it," Crincione said.

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'Foolish': Congress dressed down for giving a 'garbage human being' leverage over them

Former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori did not mince words Tuesday on CNN when asked about Ghislane Maxwell's demands for immunity before she considers testifying on Capitol Hill.

Maxwell, who was the girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, is serving 20 years in federal prison for sex trafficking.

In a letter to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), Maxwell's attorneys wrote that their client would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent unless they complied with her demands.

"I have to say to the folks in Congress who helped to create this — this is what happens when you give a criminal — an all-around garbage human being — leverage over you," Khardori told CNN's Brianna Keilar.

"They start creating lists of demands that make you look foolish if you accede to them; they should never have gone down this path. The Justice Department should not be working with her. She has no credibility. She's in prison for 20 years on heinous charges, and she has a whole host of incentives to lie or shade the truth. If I were still in government, I would not trust this woman and I would not touch her with a 10-foot pole."

Keilar asked why Khardori called Maxwell "garbage."

"Because what she did was heinous and awful, and she traumatized many, many young women, and they're going to live with that trauma for the rest of their lives."

Khardori continued, "One of the particularly offensive elements of the Justice Department entertaining this — Republicans in Congress entertaining this — is that she has victims, and those victims have to watch all of this unfold and have to watch them pretending like this woman has some credibility and potentially some information that may be valuable."

President Donald Trump has not ruled out pardoning Maxwell. He has called questions about his association with Epstein, a convicted sex trafficker, a "hoax" and a "scam" perpetuated by Democrats.

Watch the clip below via CNN.

GOP lawmaker immediately fact-checked on CNN after 'celebrating' Trump's honesty

Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) praised Donald Trump for his "transparency" after the White House disclosed the president has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition that causes blood to pool in the veins.

"I think he's been the most transparent president we've ever had," Fine said Thursday on CNN. "You talked about the health conditions -- we had to have Joe Biden's doctor take the Fifth Amendment last week over their lack of transparency."

Host Brianna Keilar asked if Fine was concerned about the president's diagnosis.

"No, I think the president is, you know, a man in his 70s. He's going to have the kinds of conditions that people of that age do. But what I appreciate is the fact that, again, they are being transparent about them."

Fine continued, "I mean, Joe Biden tried to tell us for years there was nothing wrong with his brain when it was obvious there was something to the point that his doctor had to take the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination of a crime last week. He's basically admitting they committed crimes and covering up Joe Biden's health conditions. So, I think we should all celebrate the fact that Donald Trump is willing to tell us what's going on."

Keilar interjected, "I do just want to note that this disclosure came after his ankles were visibly swollen, and we could see makeup on his hand covering up a bruise, which they say is because of an aspirin regimen and a lot of hand shaking," Keilar said.

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'More than meets the eye': Doctor casts doubt on Trump’s ‘benign’ diagnosis

A day after the most recent speculation about President Donald Trump's bruised hand and swollen ankles, the White House offered up his doctor's diagnosis: chronic venous insufficiency, which causes blood to pool in the veins.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the condition as "benign" and claimed, "The president remains in excellent health," but CNN's Brianna Keilar didn't take the diagnosis at face value.

She asked a medical expert how the president's age, lack of cardiovascular activity, and other lifestyle factors could worsen the diagnosis.

"So, it appears that the White House physicians were also concerned about more than meets the eye," said cardiologist Dr. Bernard Ashby, before mentioning the additional tests performed by Trump's doctors, including an echocardiogram and lower extremity ultrasounds.

"Essentially, they were covering all their bases, meaning that they were screening him for heart failure, which is a common cause of lower extremity swelling. In addition to that, they were concerned with increased pressure in his heart."

"Now, taking a step back, looking at the entire case, the president is obese. He is older. And I don't know if he has hypertension, but that's very...common in his age group, particularly with his body habitus. So, when you do have a condition like lower extremity swelling, bilateral, and a diagnosis of venous insufficiency, the question is, is it intrinsic to the veins? Meaning, does the venous insufficiency that he has, is it related to bad valves, or is it related to increased pressure coming from the heart?"

Ashby continued, "Even though he's diagnosed with a benign condition, venous insufficiency by itself doesn't necessarily mean it's benign. The question is, what's causing the venous insufficiency? But I wouldn't take the benign diagnosis on its face."

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'Excuse me?' Ex-Trump official snaps as CNN host levels false claim to his face

CNN's Brianna Keilar pushed back hard Tuesday on a former Trump official's claim that President Donald Trump had to make a new "policy call" by allowing some undocumented migrants a "temporary pass" to remain in the United States to fill certain jobs.

Keilar asked Chad Wolf, Acting Homeland Security secretary during the first Trump administration, "Is that just an admission that the American economy relies on labor from undocumented immigrants, and that they need work visas even if they're here illegally? Even if you are putting them in the same category as criminals who are here illegally?"

Wolf said the president had to weigh "all these different considerations" to keep the workforce at capacity.

"But that's not new, right, Mr. Wolf? Has he been failed by his advisors if he's only learning now what policymakers, including Republicans, have known for decades — that undocumented immigrants are essential to the U.S. economy?"

Wolf answered, "If you look at four years of the Biden administration, you'll see absolutely no one removed, right? Which is why we're in the crisis that we're in today."

"That's not true and you know that," Keilar interjected. "You're saying no one was removed in four years?"

"Excuse me? I really don't think you understand what you're talking about here at all," Wolf snapped.

"You're saying no one was removed in four years, period," Keilar asked again. "Just be clear. Explain what you're saying — no one was removed under the Biden administration from the United States who was undocumented?"

"The vast majority of removals from the Biden administration happened at the border. They were removing almost no one from the interior of the country," Wolf said, adding that's the main reason the American people voted for a second Trump administration.

Wolf continued, "They're not going to exempt all individuals from the law, right? So, if you say we're only going to remove criminal aliens and that's it, we're going to stop. Well, then, you invite a whole class of individuals to come into the country and not to offend and say, well, you're not going to be removed."

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'Better shoot straight!' House Dem grilled after 'yelling' at troops in LA

CNN's Brianna Keilar challenged Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) on Wednesday about her actions toward the National Guard outside the Los Angeles Detention Center this week.

Waters was denied entry into the federal building by the National Guard when she tried to check on David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union, who was arrested by ICE during the anti-deportation protests.

Afterwards, Waters posted to social media, “Today, I came to the Metropolitan Detention Center to exercise my constitutional rights as a Member of Congress to check on the safety and conditions of SEIU California President David Huerta, who was arrested by ICE. I pled with the National Guard, which was heavily armed, not to use their weapons against peaceful demonstrators who were simply exercising their rights to freedom of speech and protest."

Keilar played a video of Waters shouting at the troops, "What are you gonna do? You gonna shoot some kid who's afraid of you and runs? You gonna shoot an elected official? If you shoot me, you better shoot straight."

Keilar asked if "yelling at them was the right way to show" concern over what could happen with armed service members in the streets.

"What I was really trying to do was to get the attention to the seriousness of what was going on," Waters answered. "And, so I thought, as an elected official, if I talk about, so that it would be in earshot of all the media and everybody else that was there and people were listening, that we were raising concerns about armed guards being in Los Angeles and what they are ordered to do."

Keilar then asked, "I think many people share your concerns that this is a dangerous situation in Los Angeles. Would you want your constituents and other Angelenos to be yelling at guardsmen like that?"

Waters took issue with Keilar's assertion that she was "yelling" at the guardsmen.

"It is not a matter of yelling; it's projecting so that you will be heard," Waters answered.

Watch the clip below via CNN.