Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer gave an extended interview Thursday night on HLN about his time in the White House and the trajectory for the Trump presidency. During one segment, a former Obama appointee, Van Jones, was brought on set to debate Spicer. Jones started in hard at Spicer, calling him a liar and critiquing the administration’s treatment of the press. At one point in the interview, Jones even brought his own daughter into the argument, saying:
I want to tell you something personally. You were somebody who, as part of the Republican establishment, came into your job with an incredible amount of esteem and respect. As a parent, one of the scariest things during the early part of the Trump year was to see somebody come out and say something you knew wasn’t true. My children were watching, saying ‘Daddy that’s not true.’
Spicer came with his receipts though, reminding Van Jones that it was his boss who attempted to ban Fox News from White House-orchestrated press events.
“When you talk about your party, let’s talk about your party. During Obama’s years you banned Fox News, wiretapped and went through the e-mails —” Jones attempted to interrupt but Spicer continued “–All the outrage from press comes because the president is fighting back on Twitter. What you guys took — you tried to kick Fox News out of a press pool.”
In 2011, Judicial Watch used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain White House emails detailing the exclusion of Fox News from various press events. You can find an ongoing list of gripes about Fox News from President Barack Obama here.