CNN’s Jake Tapper used a rare opportunity to interview the vice president Sunday to instead debate the vice president.
Over the course of a lengthy, 25-minute interview, Tapper repeatedly cut off VP Pence mid-answer, mocked him, laughed in his face, and otherwise conducted the exchange more like a partisan engaging in debate than than a reporter conducting an interview.
When asking Pence about whether there are preconditions regarding talks with Iran, Pence began to explain one such pre-condition, but was quickly interrupted by Tapper: “Well that’s a pre-condition.”
Pence attempted to complete his thought: “— they need to give up the nuclear weapons” — but Tapper kept cutting him off.
“Well, that’s a pre — that’s a pre-condition,” Tapper interjected.
On immigration, Tapper attempted to real-time fact check Pence after the vice president said 90 percent of migrants fail to show up to their hearings after being released into the public.
“I don’t think that number is accurate about 90 percent not showing up,” Tapper said. “I think a majority do show up. ... I’m talking about the kids in our custody right now. Just listen to this. This is ‘The New Yorker’ citing a team of lawyers —“
Pence attempted to keep speaking, but Tapper bulldozed over him: “I just want to read this quote. The conditions that lawyers found were shocking. ... I think Democrats would argue that they want to do a deal with President Trump but he hasn’t showed any inclination. But I do — first of all I want to say one thing.”
Tapper, having apparently been given corrected information from his control room about his earlier attempted fact check, reported: “You said a second ago that 90 percent of people who get detained don’t show up for their court hearings and the Justice Department data said it is 60 to 70 percent.”
But rather than apologize for erring and suggesting most migrants do show up for their hearings, Tapper pivoted: “But I want to ask you a question about climate change. ... Do you think it is a threat, manmade climate emergency is a threat?”
After Pence said the Trump administration follows the science, Tapper scoffed and said the scientists agree with him that it’s a threat to humanity.
In another aborted fact check, Tapper said Trump is wrong about the United States having the cleanest water, but seemed to forget what he was going to say, and then asked Pence to bring back “statistics” to back up Trump’s assertion.
When the interview came to Trump’s comments about being offered dirt on a campaign opponent, Tapper laughed at Pence when he said they would take it to the FBI.
For Tapper, this interview appeared more an opportunity to flex his #Resistance bona fides than it was an opportunity to make news and report new information.
To get a better sense of how this went down, check out the supercut above.