CNN anchor Erin Burnett has torn into Donald Trump’s new press secretary for spending her first briefing boasting about one of the president’s biggest obsessions as the midterms near.
On Tuesday’s OutFront, Burnett played a clip of Katie Zacharia’s first appearance at the White House podium. In it, Zacharia, 41, answered only three questions and was visibly struggling while reading a script.
At one point, the new press secretary delved into one of the president’s favorite topics, saying voters were swarming to see Trump, 80.
“Attendance is at record highs as enthusiastic, hard-working Americans are lining up and packing arenas to support President Trump and Republicans,” Zacharia said, referencing Trump’s latest slate of rallies, which he hopes will lift the GOP as his approval rating sinks to record lows.
Burnett, 50, looked bemused as the clip ended.
“Trump needs an effective communicator. There’s just 21 days before the election, obviously, and Katie Zacharia is focused on Trump’s crowd sizes,” the host said. “If you could just take that, that obviously does not add up. And it’s just an odd thing to be bringing up and emphasizing at this moment.”
CNN then cut to footage from Trump’s Monday night rally in Ohio, where sections of the arena sat unfilled. Burnett’s CNN colleague Kaitlan Collins had flagged the empty seats shortly after Trump’s appearance on Monday night. Trump’s Rapid Response team labeled it “just more Fake News bulls--t” on Tuesday.
“At Trump’s rally last night in Ohio, large areas of the venue were empty,” Burnett said. “And that includes areas that offered prime views of the president.”
Trump has been insistent that his crowds are as big as ever. On Monday morning alone, he hit Truth Social with at least seven posts and a handful of videos hyping his turnout, many of them reposts from MAGA influencers.
The blitz followed a run of unflattering reports. A Daily Beast/PunchUp analysis estimated his Oct. 2 rally in Mobile, Alabama, drew about 8,000 people, down from roughly 30,000 in 2015.
Burnett linked the empty crowds to panicked GOP spending.
“That may be why Republican groups are also pumping money into the Maine Senate race, where Susan Collins is fighting to save her seat,” Burnett said. “Only in this case, they accidentally aired those ads in Portland, Oregon, not Portland, Maine.”
Burnett was referencing a blunder by Defending Main Street, a GOP super PAC backing Collins. According to NBC News, its ad buyer spent nearly $25,000 running a spot that attacks Democratic nominee Troy Jackson in Portland, Oregon, rather than Portland, Maine. The ad has since been pulled, and the buyer refunded the money.
Burnett added that the GOP is “pulling money out of other races that they actually think they may have already lost.” In New Jersey, she said, Republican groups “just scrapped all the advertising” for Rep. Tom Kean Jr., and in Iowa they are “cutting their losses” on Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
“It’s a sign that Republicans are worried about what’s happening in November,” Burnett said.
Burnett returned to the briefing later in the show during a CNN panel.
“Today obviously was her first time on the podium. It did not go so well,” she said. She added that a White House official had told CNN the performance was “brutal.”
Zacharia replaced Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in late August after having her second child.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
The White House has hit back at Burnett before.
Last month, Communications Director Steven Cheung responded to her Trump TV segment by calling her “a racist and a r----d.”
