- A White House’s conference call with the media apparently went completely off the rails.
- The call was to brief media on background before Friday’s announcement on the Iran deal.
- Due to technical difficulties, journalists were able to speak to one another and make comments — and they did not hold back.
The White House’s conference call with the media before Friday’s announcement on the Iran deal apparently went completely off the rails.
White House officials reportedly did not know how to enable the “listening only” feature on the call, according to CBS.
The conference call informed media that President Donald Trump would continue to move forward with the Iran deal, but was postponed 20 minutes because of the difficulties. During that time, journalists were able to speak to one another and make comments.
They did not hold back.
One journalist said “This White House can’t even run a f—ing conference call” because “they don’t know how to mute their line.”
“This is Kim Jong Un calling for Donald Trump,” said another.
“Can’t this White House even run a press call?” one journalist asked.
Administration officials on the call responded angrily to the taunts. One responded to a journalist, saying, “it’s the illegitimate media that doesn’t know how to conduct themselves. They can’t mute their f—ing phones.”
Another administration official, angry at the comments made by the journalists yelled “I think if everyone had half a brain and common sense and muted their phones, this wouldn’t be a problem.”
No questions were taken at the end of the call, with the White House blaming technical difficulties.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Journalists on the call also aired some of their complaints on Twitter.
“White House background conference call on Iran is CHAOS,” journalist Rebecca Foster tweeted.
“The sound of 100+ unmuted lines waiting for a WH conference call is half modern art, half torture,” Politico’s Michael Crowley tweeted.
Others on the call found it amusing.
“The White House Iran conference call going on right now is the most amazing thing I’ve heard in a longtime,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter Mike Eckel tweeted.
“Even if Khamenei wanted to hack this call, it wouldn’t sound this bad,” Al-Hayat’s Joyce Karam tweeted.
“I just the hope the person in charge of the phones for the White House briefing on Iranian today plays no role in looking are the nuclear codes,” BBC’s Paul Danahar tweeted.
Crosstalk between the media and the administration was not included on the official White House transcript.
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