Kayleigh McEnany isn’t going to be a doormat for the media or anyone else

How the White House press secretary uses facts and calls out the media when they’re not doing their job. 

Full transcript: 

David Brody  0:07  

And welcome everybody to the Pod's Honest Truth with David Brody. Glad you're along for the ride. By the way, I think today we're going to give out free balloons. That's right free balloons to folks who can say the word hydroxychloroquine five times in a row without messing up. So good luck. I don't know how we're going to quite measure that, since it's a podcast, but you know, do it, you know, in the privacy of your own home, and then maybe send me a video clip and, and if I choose you, you'll win five balloons because that's pretty much what our budget here can afford. But hey, the budget. We're busting the budget on this podcast because on the podcast today, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. I've known her for a while. You might have heard about her. She's the one you know in the White House briefing room, giving the media a bit of a hard time they're not quite sure what hit them. Exactly, and we're gonna get into some of that with Kayleigh McEnany today. So here's the deal. This interview happened late Tuesday afternoon, over at the old Executive Office Building on White House grounds in the Secretary of War Room. I must tell you, it was very impressive. I felt very, very important. And I left the room didn't feel so important. But that's a separate a psychological issue. 

David Brody  1:24  

We had about 30 minutes with her. We're only going to bring you about 10 of it today. Because the rest of the interview, we'll share it with you next week when we do this big profile on Kayleigh McEnany., on CBN and the 700 Club and of course, you will see all of that or hear of that here on the podcast, and some of it on Just the News.com. So it was at the secret it was in the Secretary of War Room. 30 minutes. We talked about news of the day, which is what you'll hear today we'll talk about Obama gate, we'll talk about a hydroxychloroquine. Thank you very much. I'm not gonna say five times. We'll talk about media bias. This idea about whether or not Donald Trump has been put in the White House by God for such a time as this. Also, she gets very emotional when she talks about really a mentor to her or Ravi Zacharias. And what that Christian apologists who just passed away of cancer of this past week, what he meant, in her Christian walk, her Christian faith walk. So all of that on the podcast today, let me just say that she has a very, very impressive resume. I mean, so she went to Catholic prep school in Tampa, that's where she is from born and raised. But then she goes over to Georgetown University's international politics school. That's what she made majored in international politics. Then, oh, she studied abroad at Oxford. Very, very nice. By the way, I'm sure she had tea afternoon tea over there. Then she goes to the University of Miami School of Law. And by the way, she wins this award for the top 1% of students in the class. 

David Brody  2:58  

So impressive there and then oh, so then she transfers to Harvard Law School. So she's already in the top 1% of Miami law school. And then you know what, I think I'll go to Harvard. So there she is at Harvard. And so she's got quite the stellar resume. The media is finding out that she is a bulldog, but she does it with a smile. I kind of like to call her Sarah Sanders with an exclamation point. You know, Sarah Sanders was bless your heart media. Kayleigh McEnany. is bless your heart with an exclamation point, maybe two. And that's what they're experiencing. As a matter of fact, I want to play you a little bit of a clip from her first White House briefing. I'm not sure if it was her first one. It might have been a first or second, but she was asked by Jeff Mason, from Reuters news agency about this idea that according to the media, that she got all of this wrong with the coronavirus that she said it wasn't going to come to America that Donald Trump wouldn't let that happen. So they kind of try to call her out on this and watch how she turns the tables. Get ready for the Mack truck. Her name is Kayleigh McEnany, here is that exchange, 

Reporter  4:01  

Kayleigh in a previous life before you were press secretary, you worked for the campaign. And you made a comment I believe on Fox in which he said President Trump will not allow the coronavirus to come to this country. Given what has happened since then, obviously. Would you like to take that back?

Kayleigh McEnany  4:19  

Well, first let me know I was asked a question on Fox Business about President's travel restrictions. I noted what was the intent behind those travel restrictions which is we will not see the coronavirus come here. We will not see terrorism come here referring to an earlier set of travel restrictions. I guess I would turn the question back on the media and as similar questions, does Vox want to take back that they proclaim that the coronavirus would not be a deadly pandemic? Does the Washington Post want to take back that they told Americans to get a grip the flu is bigger than the coronavirus? Does the Washington Post likewise want to take back that our brains are causing us to exaggerate the threat of the coronavirus? Does the New York Times want to take back that fear of the virus may be spreading faster than the virus itself? Does NPR want to take back that the flu was a much bigger threat than the coronavirus? And finally, once again, the Washington Post? Would they like to take back that the government should not respond aggressively to the coronavirus? I'll leave you with those questions and maybe you'll have some answers in a few days. 

David Brody  5:19  

You know, I feel like after that exchange, which by the way, I believe she literally dropped the mic and said, I'm out media see you later. Alright she didn't drop the mic, but I feel like we need some Gladiator music when she comes in or leaves. You know, Mel Gibson, Braveheart, the whole thing. We've got some of that in the budget today, as you hear behind me or beneath me. And so this is the music that I suggest you play at all of her briefings. It could happen during the briefing. Maybe before but definitely after where she has that drop mic moment. I'm out. I'm getting a latte. See y'all later. But look, she has a Christian witness to her and a wonderful Christian story. We're gonna get more into that next week, but I did ask her a question and I want to play this for you. This is from our interview at the old Executive Office Building the other day on Tuesday, where I asked her about Ravi Zacharias. He's the Christian apologist who passed away of cancer. He was in his early 70s. And he really made an impact on her. And when I asked the question, I wasn't quite sure what reaction we were gonna get. But she got emotional. And when you hear some of the pause in the middle of this, or it's towards the beginning, that's when she kind of teared up and this really got to her and I want you to listen, because it's very important to understand Kayleigh McEnany needs to understand her Christian walk. Here it is. 

David Brody  6:44  

Can I ask you a personal question about Ravi Zacharias passing away just in the last 24 hours or so... I know his teachings were so important to you, especially at Oxford you you've mentioned this. Can you tell me a little bit about what he meant to you personally, and and the loss for the Christian community?

Kayleigh McEnany  7:01  

Yeah, it's a huge loss. You know, my dad said to me that Billy Graham was the great evangelist. And I think Ravi Zacharias is the great apologist.

David Brody  7:13  

Yeah. I know this is tough. I know. Yeah.

Kayleigh McEnany  7:20  

We all cry cuz we're Christians. Yeah.

Kayleigh McEnany  7:23  

I mean, we're human the last time I checked, but the tears come from what what was it that because it feels like Oxford and your development of your faith?

Kayleigh McEnany  7:32  

Yeah. And you know, Ravi, someone that I never met I know his team. And I know some of those who are around him. But, you know, for me, as a Christian, I always had the heart for Jesus Christ that I got at a very young age. I was saved when I was, you know, in my teens, but to have someone from an academic place as an apologist could equip you with those arguments where you didn't have to check your brain at the door when you became a Christian where there is intellect foundation for everything we believe. There's prophecy, there's the human cell. There's the amazing creation of the human body and all of its complexity and the planet, the universe. And he puts a philosophical and academic rationale for the heart that I had for Christ but gave me the ability to go to Oxford, where there are renowned atheist scholars who try to say there's no intellectual undergirding for Christianity. Ravi Zacharias, who happened to have an office at Oxford, was the person who provided the counter to that, the the intelligence behind why we believe what we believe, and you know, your mind can never get you fully there. It's a place to only your heart can take you. But Ravi Zacharias provided those steps to put in the minds of an academic Wow, I should give the Christian faith some thought. 

Kayleigh McEnany  8:49  

And, you know, Ravi, he means so much. As I was saying earlier, you know, Billy Graham was the great evangelists. Ravi Zacharias is a great apologist. And, you know, I think the words that were at the very bottom of the announcement today of his passing are so important. He had a verse there it said, because I live, you also will live John 14:19. And they said that these seven words changed Ravi's life. 57 years ago, he was on a bed of suicide as he described it, and it was a Bible that was handed to him. And those words in particular, that set him on a 57 year path that has truly saved lives. I, on Sunday watched a sermon knowing you know, Ravi was in a tough spot and was no longer getting treatment. So my I had my daughter on my lap, and we were watching the sermon. Yeah, with Ravi and my husband was there. My mother in law was there. And it was a sermon about purpose. And it was a sermon about how every human life has a purpose. You are here for a reason. Every life matters, and it's about finding that purpose and just hearing him speak and hearing those words was so meaningful. 

Kayleigh McEnany  9:53  

And it was in that sermon, I believe, where he shared the story of a CNN sports caster who was living a profligate lifestyle and making bad decisions in life, but changed his life and found his purpose and found a family and became a Christian and got very sick. And when he was on his deathbed, the CNN sportscaster said that he was just really in search of God and really in search of finding Christ and hearing from Christ as he was about to leave behind his little daughter and he said, Jesus, he saw a figure that is how he always imagined Jesus Christ would look like and he said, who he had pictured was Jesus sat on the corner of his bed and said, tonight's not the night you will pass. And he had this distinct moment before he passed, and I'm watching Ravi describe that moment, knowing that he was probably in the next few days coming to his last moment, it just, it changed me once again to hear that and to post the sermon on Twitter and have a user say, wow, I've never given Christianity a thought but having watched what Ravi had to say I may have to give Christianity a thought. So Robbie, his life may have ended, but his life continues and next life. He is someone I'll meet in heaven and rest assured his legacy will always be here and he will continue to change lives.

Kayleigh McEnany  10:12  

Kayleigh McEnany keeping it real when talking about Ravi Zacharias and what he meant in her life. Look, she is a born again, Christian. And you know what media deal with it? She wears it on her sleeve. You don't like it? Oh, well, there's the door. No, I mean, she says with a smile on her face. I mean, she wants people to come to Christ. But she's not going to be a doormat for the media or anybody else. We're going to hear more about all of that when we talk about Obamagate, when we talk about hydroxychloroquine, when we talk about media bias, and whether or not God put Donald Trump in the office for such a time as this, the White House for such a time as this. Kayleigh McEnany addresses it all when we come back on the Pod's Honest Truth. 

David Brody  11:52  

And Welcome back, everybody to the Pod's Honest Truth with David Brody. All right time now for our interview with White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. You heard a little bit earlier on, we're going to play more of an extended portion of it now. The interview began, I should say, when she walked into the room, obviously it began when she walked into the room. Hello. But what I was going to say when I rudely interrupted myself, is that we did the old COVID-19 elbow bump, that's how we greeted each other boom, wanted to give her you know, a handshake, no, none of that COVID-19 elbow bump. And that is how it all began. We sat down in the chair, we talked about some profile stuff that we're working on, for CBN. And we'll have some on Just the News as well. But then we got into news of the day and here is some of that. 

David Brody  12:38  

Clearly God has impacted your life and here's Donald Trump, as President of the United States and just proven God has a sense of humor that Donald Trump is President it who would have thunk it, but here he is. How do you see God kind of in all of that, this idea of providence and this idea that.. a lot of folks, I asked Sarah in that seat a few years back that you know, is Trump put there by God for such a time as this, if you will, what's what's kind of your feeling on that?

Kayleigh McEnany  13:04  

Yeah, I think look, prayer made a difference in the selection. And that's not to say I think God put... not to say that he puts a certain political party in a certain place at a time. But I do believe certain people are meant to be in positions at a certain moment. I do believe that President Trump is, is the person meant for this moment. And I think prayer made a lot of difference in the election. I'll never forget Lara Trump. I asked her I was interviewing people for my book, and I said, what made the difference in the election? Without missing a beat, she said prayer. And I think that's right. I think, you know that this country needed someone to fight for life, to fight for religious liberty. And I believe that President Trump was that person and he's done that with the judges. He's put in place you know, with the Mexico City policy, ensuring federal dollars don't go to abortions, and mentioning religious liberty and his UN speech was key. There's just so much that he's done to fight for the Christian community. So I certainly believe that he's here at this moment for a time as we all are.

Kayleigh McEnany  14:02  

Some news of the day items for you the hydroxychloroquine. What do you know I said it correctly. Hydroxychloroquine... I know the media is digging him up on this. And you talked a little bit about about it earlier on Fox and Friends and some other places, but just so I understand what is... how comfortable is the president with with doing this and did specifically the doctor prescribe it for him? Just to understand it?

Kayleigh McEnany  14:27  

Yes, the doctor did prescribe it for him. And he took it after having several discussions with Dr. Connelly about its efficacy, and he believed that Dr. Connelly that the benefits outweigh the risks for the President. And, you know, hydroxychloroquine it's worth mentioning is a drug that has been approved for at least three other conditions. You know, malaria is one of them as a prophylaxis. I had someone in my office say, oh, I've taken this drug several times ahead of me going to trips in places where there were malaria heavy areas. Lupus is another example. So this is a drug that is out there that has been shown to be safe with these conditions. And, you know, there it was issued a emergency use authorization to use this as you know, essentially like a right to try. So if you're someone who has this who's looking for a therapeutic... who has COVID and is looking for a therapeutic, hydroxychloroquine is something some doctors professed optimism about. We know it's approved for other uses. So you know, you do have a right to try it, in essence to reflect on the language of the President's previous legislation that gives people right to try and the waning days of their life or when they're facing a fatal illness.

Kayleigh McEnany  15:38  

Do you think the media is blowing this out of proportion? You got Neil Cavuto and Joe Scarborough and some others in China, quite frankly, just called it what witchcraft is that the President's doing witchcraft...

Kayleigh McEnany  15:47  

It's so unfortunate when you turn on the headlines and turn on the TV in the morning as I did this morning, watching a certain network and to hear just complete misinformation about hydroxychloroquine You know, suggesting that it could be fatal for someone should they take it. And when in fact, there are millions of Americans who take it for arthritis, for example, you know, yes, it should always be something that's prescribed in the context of a doctor-patient. No one should be taking this drug, if not prescribed by a doctor, it's very important to say that, only your doctor can say that this is for you and prescribe it to you. But nevertheless, to completely act as if this is some sort of poison, when there are many, many Americans and many people around the world taking this for lupus and other illnesses. It just does more harm than good, that kind of fear mongering, that kind of misinformation. So it's frustrating to turn it on and to see that because it ultimately is very damaging.

Kayleigh McEnany  16:44  

But the criticism would be that the FDA and the government, if you will, federal government, only recommends it'd be taken in a hospital setting. So what's the what's the reaction to that the pushback about that criticism? 

Kayleigh McEnany  16:58  

I talked to Dr. Hahn about that this morning, from the FDA and Dr. Hahn said first, you know, this is a drug that has a long safety profile. It should always be prescribed from a doctor to a patient, but has been shown to be safe. And I explicitly asked him, you know, what about outside of hospitals? And he said, yes, it's okay. If a doctor prescribes it to you, and your ordinary point of care. You know, that is an acceptable way to go about this. I think what is being mistaken is the fact that there was a safety notification put out, based on a study that was not a clinical study. It was not a VA study, either, but it was based on fatalities in the VA. And basically, it didn't take into account comorbidities. But it did ask questions about hydroxychloroquine. And they did put out a safety notice as the FDA regularly does about studies but nevertheless, it's still out there. It's still something that FDA stands behind a saying, you know, if you are in a situation where you're prescribed by your doctor is something that you can use and have access to. So, you know, there's a lot of nuances. But those nuances are all too often left out of the coverage.

Kayleigh McEnany  18:07  

Want to talk about Obamagate or as the president says on Twitter Obamagate! with an exclamation point. You know, he is really concerned about what happened to him in his campaign. He laying a lot of blame at President Obama's feet. A lot. I know you've been asked the question, you know, what is the crime here? I looked back. He did tell Doug Wead a presidential historian at one point during... Doug Wead's book, that he says what was done to me was treasonous, is what he said. So is that a sense of the crime or what's going on here exactly?

Kayleigh McEnany  18:37  

I think you have to look at this in the context of questions and in the context of things that we know happened. So what we know happened is that Michael Flynn's identity was unmasked, and it was leaked and it is a criminal offence to leak the identity of an individual like Michael Flynn, a private citizen to the press to the press after being on mass. So we know that a crime is committed who did is the question but their But there are a number of other questions that needs to be asked. There's more questions than there are answers in this and the lack of journalistic curiosity is really something intriguing. But for instance, there was a January 5 Oval Office meeting, President Obama was there, Vice President Biden was there. Many others were there Comey was there, Yates from DOJ, and the Department of Justice Sally Yates, learned about the unmasking Michael Flynn from President Obama. How peculiar that the DOJ would be learning about this from the sitting President, not the reverse. How interesting that Jim Comey mentioned the Logan Act in that meeting is a statute never used to prosecute an American and its entire 200 year history. But it's brought up in the context of a meeting with President Obama. And then Susan Rice writes about this meeting on the day, as she's rushing out of the White House on Inauguration Day, writes about this meeting and says, oh, President Obama wants us to do this quote by the book. I mean, there's just so many questions. The DOJ will ultimately provide the answers the Derm investigation, but I think the President's really trying to point out the questions and how unfortunate it was an unprecedented to use the words of Attorney General Barr, that a sitting administration would unmask an incoming NSA advisor and leak his identity and that a dossier funded by the democrats would be used to spy on members of the Trump campaign.

Kayleigh McEnany  20:26  

Do you think the media is carrying the Obama administration's, or the former Obama administration's water here to a degree?

Kayleigh McEnany  20:31  

When they don't ask the questions, absolutely. Yes. I have seen no coverage. It is a you know, just last week, we learned that political appointees, the former Vice President, the Secretary of Treasury, the Chief of Staff in the Obama administration, were unmasking. These are political individuals. These aren't Intel officials. Where were the stories about it? When we learned a few weeks before that, that Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, before investigators from the FBI approached them, they wrote a note pontificating whether they should get him to lie in order to get him fired or prosecuted. Where were the stories about it? They like to cover Michael Flynn when they thought he did something wrong. But when all of a sudden he's being set up and framed and entrapped, there's no coverage. There's no questions, and it's a disservice to the American people.

Kayleigh McEnany  21:20  

As we wrap up, I just want to ask you, you've been called a lot of we talked about this earlier being called a lot of names out there. I mean, they're already...I will not lie, and they're calling you a liar. Already. They're calling you other names, racist and birther, and all that type of stuff. How do you? What's your response to the critics that say all this stuff to you about you?

Kayleigh McEnany  21:36  

That I know the person I am and I know what I stand for. And I stand as a Christian woman, someone who believes in equality and truth and loyalty and honesty, and it's the values I've lived by my whole life. It's the values I'll continue to live by. And people will malign you, it comes with the job, but I know who I'm ultimately working for, and it's the big guy upstairs, and my mission in life is that when I pass that He will look at me and say, well done good and faithful servant. And if I can end my life that way, it doesn't matter what the people say on the way there we

David Brody  22:10  

machinae Always a pleasure. Thank you so much. 

Kayleigh McEnany  22:12  

Thank you.

David Brody  22:16  

That is Kayleigh McEnany here on the pods honest truth. I tell you what you got to appreciate her for sitting down with me. It was it was a nice extended interview. Once again, a lot of the interview you'll hear next week. Everything from the double mastectomy that she had, her faith walk, how she became a Christian, advice from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, being a working mom. I mean, all of that. It's really fascinating. It's kind of like an evangelical bonanza I kid you not a matter of fact. I don't know we should have some sort of sound effect for that... we'll come up with a sound effect for next week. But have you also noticed before we close, have you noticed that she is doing these daily White House briefings often Why? Look, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. She's really, really good. Donald Trump really, really trust her. And she is defending this President. Like really, we haven't seen in a very long time. from the podium. Sarah Sanders was great. She was bless your heart. Sean Spicer, he was firm. Kayleigh McEnany, both bless your heart, both firm. She's got an exclamation point. And oh, by the way, she comes with facts and turns the tables on the media every single day from the podium. And that folks, is the Pod's Honest Truth. Until next time, America.