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McEnany: PBS journalist's tweet is 'unconscionably dishonest'

The White House press secretary goes after a PBS correspondent for cutting up and de-contextualizing statement from President Trump.

Published: August 14, 2020 10:41am

Updated: August 14, 2020 3:34pm

PBS NewsHour correspondent Yamiche Alcindor was the target of a tweet Thursday by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany after the former sent out a message selectively editing a response by President Trump to a question about his claim that his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, would work to destroy American suburbia, should he be elected. 

During a press conference on Wednesday, the president was asked about a statement he'd made earlier in the week alluding to a pending "invasion" of American suburbs by low-income housing, should Democrats gain control of the White House. 

He responded by saying that he believes Democrats will "destroy suburbia," but clarified that he did not mean an invasion of white-majority suburban neighborhoods by non-white residents. He emphasized the number of non-white suburb-dwellers in the country whose neighborhoods would be ruined by Democratic policy. "And just so you understand, 30%-plus of the people living in suburbia are minorities," Trump said. "African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American — they're minorities."

McEnany pointed out that Alcindor's tweet seemed to imply the president was saying the minority populations of American suburbs are what would destroy them. She called the journalist's reporting of the answer "unconscionably dishonest."

Ironically, the president, in his response, specifically mentioned getting in trouble with the "fake news" when responding to the question. "Thirty percent. The number is even high, it's — they say 35, but I like to cut it a little bit lower," he said, referring to the minority population of American suburbia, "You know why? That way I can never get myself in too much trouble with the fake news."

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