The Trump administration has been a juggernaut thus far, so the press is desperate for a counter-narrative. They think they have found it in the relatively minor Signal chat story, and are playing it for all it is worth, hoping to distract from the administration’s achievements and fire up the Democrats’ base.
Pushback from the administration has generally been mild, but yesterday Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins went on CNN with host Kaitlan Collins. Secretary Collins presumably expected to talk about veterans, but Kaitlan Collins was interested only in the Signal chat. Notwithstanding that Secretary Collins wasn’t on the chat and doesn’t know anything about it.
After the CNN host asked the same question three times, and Secretary Collins had answered it as best he could, he lost patience and started questioning her about CNN’s defamation of a veteran that led to a $5 million jury verdict, and a settlement for something in excess of that amount (probably $10 million). Host Collins seemed to think that was dirty pool:
I am not sure why any cabinet secretary would go on CNN, but that’s their call. I applaud Secretary Collins for not serving the Democrats as a stationary target for talking points.
