CNN political analyst April Ryan had a rough day at the White House.
She got shut down by Sarah Sanders and called out by a colleague for disseminating fake news. And yet, the harshest own may have come from Trump’s Kevin Hassett, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Ryan asked two questions of Hassett:
The first was, “Does this administration put into account that the Obama administration had been dealing with a recession?”
Hassett took in the assumption that Obama’s poor economic numbers can be blamed on the recession.
“The great recession absolutely slowed growth in the early years of Obama administration,” Hassett said, “Normally, what we should see at the economic recovery is that at the end of the administration, capital spending and everything else would be getting back to normal. That wasn’t happening. That was clearly in the data.”
Ryan also asked about how under the Trump administration, black unemployment numbers have reached historic lows. “The numbers have come down,” Ryan admitted, but wondered about how the administration will work to close the gap between white and black unemployment.
Hassett said that the goods-producing industry is “creating jobs at a pace little bit under 50,000 a month. That pace is about double what it was under the previous administration. Precisely the thing the president has been targeting. If you look at racial disparities across different professions, it’s the goods-producing industries, in part, responsible for the big reduction for the black unemployment rate.”
Ryan then countered, saying that increased goods production helps Hispanic workers more than black. “When it comes to construction,” Ryan said, “it’s more so a boost for Hispanic workers. What specifically are you going to do to target African-Americans since you are talking…”
Here, Hassett interrupted saying bluntly, “Policies are clearly working. The gap is lowest in history. His policy is to target goods-producing industries and he’s been very successful in that.”
WATCH: