Sen. Martha McSally said Thursday night she has no regrets calling CNN reporter Manu Raju a “liberal hack” after the now-viral exchange was criticized in the media.
Ms. McSally faced a backlash from multiple media personalities after she twice blasted Mr. Raju as a “liberal hack” when he attempted to ask her a question in a Capitol Hill hallway Thursday. The exchange garnered criticism from CNN’s Jake Tapper, Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and Wolf Blitzer, among others who called Ms. McSally’s behavior unbecoming of a senator.
Ms. McSally, an Arizona Republican and former Air Force combat pilot who was appointed to the late Sen. John McCain’s Senate seat, told Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” she had no plans to apologize for the comment to Mr. Raju.
“You know, these CNN reporters, many of them around the capital, they are so biased,” she said. “They are so in cahoots with the Democrats, they so can’t stand the president, and they run around trying to chase Republicans and ask trapping questions. I’m a fighter pilot. I called it like it is. That is what we see out of the mainstream media and especially CNN every single day, so obviously, I’m going to tell the truth, and I did it today, and it’s laughable how they responded.”
Ms. Ingraham then played a clip of Mr. Blitzer calling on Ms. McSally to apologize for the “awful, awful” thing she said.
The senator fired back, “They have a lot of apologizing to do, and they should probably be filing FEC reports with the DNC.”
