President Donald Trump’s long-running war with the press appears to be producing an outcome the White House did not anticipate — one that has officials privately fuming as their usual intimidation tactics stop working and a quiet form of resistance takes hold.
Behind the scenes, that frustration has centered on a stunning rebuff. At least one major news network has repeatedly declined requests to book a top Trump adviser for interviews, even as the administration aggressively pressures outlets it accuses of “fake news.”
Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and the architect behind many of the Trump administration’s worst policies, including its violent mass deportation immigration policy, claims CNN has reportedly refused to interview him. At least that’s what he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday, Dec. 10.
A whining Miller claims he reached out to the news network to make himself available on “any show from dawn to dusk” to talk about “any topic with any host at any time” because he said he wants to set the record straight about an avalanche of fake news.
“So, over the last few days, our brilliant White House communications shop has reached out to CNN, which, of course, is running one fake news hit piece after another, and they said, ‘Stephen Miller would like to come on your network to rebut any of these lies,’” he insisted.
“And you know what CNN’s response was? ‘We will not take him, period, for any show on any topic,’” Miller claimed in the interview with Hannity.
CNN has denied the claims, posting on X, “Members of the administration, including Stephen Miller, are welcome to come on our air. As a news organization, we make editorial decisions about the stories we cover and when, and that depends on the news priorities of the day. We look forward to having Stephen on again in the future as the news warrants.”
But Miller wasn’t buying it and neither did White House Communications Director Steven Cheung who launched a days long campaign against the network pushing to get Miller on.
In response to CNN’s denial, Cheung shot back, “Excellent! Stephen is available today. What time works best for you?”
Days earlier, Cheung took to X writing, “Stephen Miller has graciously made himself available to appear on any CNN show these last few days to discuss a wide range of topics and to push back on fake news. Yet, CNN is so afraid they declined to have him on…”
“CNN is actively engaging in partisan politics and acting as the propaganda arm of the Democrat party,” Cheung then claimed.
Then he reposted a clip of Miller on “Hannity” and captioned it “CNN = Chicken News Network.”
Social media fired back. This comment on MSN took Cheung to task over his gaslighting:
“Oh Mr Cheung. Clearly you’ve watched none of the footage from Miller’s regular CNN interviews. He doesn’t interview so much as berates, cajoles, hijacks, argues, belittles, lies, intimidates (well, he tries to) and pouts. Why would anyone want him back on air? You get what you give. In this case a lot of mutual nothings. There’s no ‘there’ there.”
Another added with a brutal insult to Miller, “Miller is a reject, as are the rest of the political appointees in this administration. Trump himself said they wouldn’t let him in “the group” and was an outsider to the rich in NY. Nobody liked him then or now. They laugh behind his back. MAGA is a cult. Glad the Republicans are not MAGA.”
The last time Miller appeared on CNN he got into a heated exchange with host Boris Sanchez on Oct. 6 over the administration’s deployment of the National Guard into American cities, Mediaite reported.
In another interview on Sept. 12 Miller threw a temper tantrum when a reporter persisted in asking him to back up claims that crime in Venezuela had fallen by over 60 percent, according to HuffPost.
“Anyone who refuses to answer reasonable but inconvenient questions by angrily deflecting, escalating and turning a conversation into a verbal assault should not be given airtime. Miller doesn’t seek to understand. He doesn’t seek to be understood,” this MSN reader stated.
And another commenter noted that Trump is really the problem here.
“Can’t have it both ways Mr. Trump. Trump wants to restrict access to the WH press briefing room to only those media outlets that ask softball questions and refuse to challenge the lies from the WH and Trump,” WB wrote on MSN.
“Then Trump wants all media outlets to accept interviews from Trump sycophants like Miller so they can spread more lies. In the words of Dana Carvey…’Not gonna happen. Wouldn’t be prudent.’”
Trump, who has had a fraught relationship with CNN for more than a decade, has banned or restricted a number of major news outlets because he doesn’t like their coverage, including The Associated Press, the New York Times, NPR and PBS, to name a few.
