White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany had a testy exchange with the White House press corps Monday after several reporters asked about President Donald Trump’s Monday morning comments on NASCAR and the Confederate flag.
The president criticized NASCAR’s decision to ban the Confederate flag Monday, and also ripped driver Bubba Wallace after an FBI investigation concluded that Wallace was not the victim of a hate crime. (RELATED: Trump Threatens To Veto Defense Bill If It Renames Confederate-Named Military Bases)
“I’ve explained to you. This is I guess the fourth attempt, but we’ll try it again,” McEnany told a reporter. “In aggregate, what [Trump] was pointing out is this rush to judgement to immediately say that there is a hate crime as happened in this case, as happened with Jussie Smollett, as happened with the Covington Catholic boys.”
“We should not have this rush to judgement, knee-jerk reaction before the facts come out,” she continued. “The FBI did their job and determined there was no hate crime.”
After the reporter continued to question her on the president’s tweet, McEnany responded by calling on another reporter.
“I’m not going to answer a question a sixth time,” McEnany said.
WATCH:
NASCAR announced last month that they would prohibit Confederate flags from their events amid nationwide protests against racism. Shortly after the announcement, a rope allegedly shaped like a noose was found in Wallace’s garage. (RELATED: Al Sharpton Still Believes Bubba Wallace Noose Story: ‘I Don’t Think We’ve Seen Closure’)
The FBI ultimately concluded that Wallace was not the victim of a hate crime, and that the rope had been in the garage since October 2019.