Steve Scalise
Role at the time: House Majority Leader (R-La.), interviewed on ABC’s This Week
Statement summary
Asked by ABC’s Jonathan Karl whether he supports Trump banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House and whether it violates the First Amendment, Scalise said he does not think there has been a president “more open to the press,” said “I don’t know why he did it. I don’t know what the background is,” and described Trump as taking questions from everyone. He did not say whether he supports the ban or whether it violates the First Amendment.
“first of all, I don't think we've had a president that's been more open to the press. … He’s a very open president. … Well, I don't know why he did it. I don't know what the background is. Look, when we have our press -- press conferences every week, the speaker, myself, our leadership team, we take questions from everybody. CNN's there, all of them. But the president takes those questions. I've never seen him turn a question down from anybody.”
Why we used this label
On Trump’s decision to exclude CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House access because of their coverage, Scalise neither endorses nor rejects the ban. Asked twice whether he supports it and whether it violates the First Amendment, he answers with an assertion that Trump is unusually open to the press and says he does not know why the ban was imposed, which disputes the premise that the ban reflects hostility to the press without taking a substantive position on the ban itself. The closest competing labels are “Explicitly stayed out”, which loses because he makes an affirmative argument rather than only refusing to answer, and “Defended or excused”, which loses because he expressly says he does not know why Trump acted and never says the ban is justified.