White House counselor Kellyanne Conway demanded that CNN media reporter Brian Stelter say who he backed in the 2016 presidential election during a tense exchange on his show “Reliable Sources” on Sunday.
Stelter was pressing Conway on how President Trump knows there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia, as he has stated in his attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, when Conway asked the question.
“If you want to talk about the 2016 election, let’s talk about it,” she said. “I think everything should come out.”
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Conway asked what evidence Stelter “or anyone at CNN” had that Russia’s election interference influenced the 2016 presidential election results.
“You’re trying to conflate it to make America think that somehow Donald Trump didn’t win this election fairly and squarely and you know he did,” she said.
She then insisted that Stelter cite evidence that Russia’s election interference influenced the election. The CNN reporter brought up the hacking of emails from a Democratic National Committee server that were then shared by WikiLeaks when Conway interrupted him.
“Did you just say something that a lot of people are your side of the aisle are not willing to admit?” she asked.
Stelter said that he wasn’t “on a side of an aisle,” adding that it was “an offensive remark.”
“Tell America, did you vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? How did your wife vote?” Conway asked.
“I did not vote for president,” Stelter replied. “I left that spot blank on the ballot that day. But it’s not appropriate for you to go around asking people who they voted for.”
“You probably didn’t think she needed your help,” Conway said.