Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Monday he “didn’t understand” President Trump’s speech at the CIA’s headquarters — or White House spokesman Sean Spicer’s media briefing on Saturday.
Trump spent much of his CIA speech focusing on the size of the crowd at his inauguration, his appearance on magazine covers and saying he “has a running war with the media.”
“It’s taking the message you want as a new president and it’s derailing it,” Kinsinger said.
Speaking on “CNN Newsroom,” Kinzinger said the Trump administration risked losing support of Congress if they continued with this approach.
Comments made by Spicer on the size of the inaugural crowd had “nothing to do with the legacy of President Trump and the things he’s going to do,” he said.
“It’s one thing to push back against perceived media bias. As Republicans we like to see that. It’s another thing to come out and say, though, a fact is only a fact if it fits within your world view.”
The Illinois congressman was referring to Spicer’s news conference on Saturday where he criticized the media for what he called “inaccurate” reporting on the size of Trump’s inauguration crowd and said that, “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period.”
Aerial photos have indicated that President Barack Obama’s first inauguration attracted a much larger crowd. Nielsen ratings show that the Obama inauguration also had a larger TV audience.
Kinzinger encouraged the Trump administration to “push back” against the President.
Trump “likes people in his inner circle to fight back. He may need a little more of that, when his reaction might be I’m going to give a speech at the CIA wall about crowd size,” Kinzinger said.