In a heated exchange on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus dismissed criticism that President Donald Trump and Press Secretary Sean Spicer are obsessed with the size of the Inauguration Day crowd.
Preibus said it was “not about size” but “honesty in the media.”
Priebus was responding to Wallace, who asked, “President Trump said in his inaugural address that every decision he makes will be to benefit American families. How does arguing about crowd size do that?”
WATCH:
Spicer raged at the media at a Saturday news conference. Before leaving without entertaining any questions from the press, Spicer eviscerated reporters who said that Trump’s crowd was smaller than at former President Barack Obama’s inauguration, claiming the new president’s had the “largest” inauguration audience.
Priebus backed up Spicer. (RELATED: Sean Spicer Rips The Media For Lying About Crowd Sizes At Trump’s Inauguration)
“This is not about crowd size. What it’s about is honesty in the media. What it’s about is bring Americans together. The media from day one has been talking about delegitimizing this president,” Priebus said.
Preibus pointed to the fake news story that Trump had removed a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office. When Preibus went to investigate and found the report to be false, “The media said, ‘our bad; someone was standing in front of the bust. We didn’t see it.'”
After continued argument with Wallace over crowd size, Priebus said, “There’s an obsession by the media to delegitimize this president, and we are not going to sit around and let it happen. We’re going to fight back tooth and nail every day, and twice on Sunday.”
Follow David on Twitter