CNN legal analyst Elie Honig challenged White House Counsel spokesman Ian Sams to “respond with substance rather than defensive bluster” after Sams criticized his coverage of the Hur report.
On Friday, Honig published an article for New York Magazine arguing that President Biden knew “from the beginning” that he had classified documents in his home and “definitely misled the American public.” After NBC News correspondent Ken Dilanian quoted and shared the article, Sams lashed out at both sides.
The White House, and particularly Sams, has been trying to debunk claims about special counsel Robert Hur's report on Biden's handling of classified documents.
“This is an embarrassingly false assessment of Elie Honig, amplified by Ken Dilanian, who are smart and can read, but apparently not,” Sams wrote in a social media post. “All of these theories are put forward in the report and then carefully disguised by facts and evidence. I laid it all out in a letter to the press.”
Honig rejected Sams' criticism, arguing instead that “the White House spokesperson should read the article and respond with substance rather than defensive bluster.”
White House spokesman Ian Sams has taken issue with reporting by CNN's Elie Honig and many other journalists. (Photo by Ian Sams by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) Honig photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for CAA))
Sams' tweet included a copy of his controversial letter to the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) criticizing members for having “reported striking inaccuracies” that he claimed gave a misleading portrayal of Hur's conclusions. He also accused reporters in the White House briefing room of asking questions that included “false content or were based on false premises.”
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WHCA President Kelly O'Donnell responded forcefully with a letter of her own, calling Sams' letter “misdirected” and writing: “It is inappropriate for the White House to use internal distribution channels, primarily for logistics and the rapid exchange of needs”. know information, spread generalized criticism of news coverage.
He also stated that “the WHCA does not, cannot and will not serve as a repository of the government's views on what appears in the news.”
Honig previously criticized the White House response to the Hur report, saying on CNN that Biden's rhetoric at a prime-time news conference in response to the findings “stunned me.”
“Two things he said are completely opposite to what Robert Hur found,” he said. “First, Joe Biden says 'I did not act voluntarily.' That means voluntarily and intentionally. The second sentence of the summary says, 'President Biden intentionally withheld classified materials.' The facts here show it was intentional. He knew it. He talked about it. “.
President Joe Biden sits in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Feb. 9, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
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Honig went on to note that while Biden claimed he did not disclose documents to his ghostwriter, the special counsel's report indicated otherwise.
“Mr. Biden shared information, including classified information from those notebooks, with his ghostwriter,” Honig said, citing the report. He went on to say that Biden is “recorded after leaving the vice presidency, telling his autobiographer [that] The classified documents are in the basement.”
Honig and O'Donnell are not the only journalists who have challenged Sams.
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Last Friday, Gray Television's White House correspondent Jon Decker took issue with Sams' credentials and asked that the White House counsel take over the press conference because the spokesman had supposedly provided information factually. incorrect.
Sams asked, “Should I be offended by that?” He stuttered in surprise, “What? I mean, come on.”
NBC News, Dilanian and Sams did not respond to queries, while NY Magazine and CNN declined to comment.
Fox News' Jeffrey Clark and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
