CNN "made" Kayleigh McEnany, President Trump's new White House press secretary

The Washington Post

In her new role, McEnany, 31, becomes one of the youngest-ever people to serve as the voice of the White House. McEnany succeeds Stephanie Grisham, who did not hold a single press briefing during her nine-month tenure. In the midst of the 2016 election, McEnany was "one of the original pro-Trump pundits on CNN," explain The Washington Post's Sarah Ellison and Elahe Izadi. Ellison and Izadi add: "It was a network the president purports to hate that made McEnany everything he would want in a press secretary. For over two years, CNN paid her to come to fight with other commentators over Trump, opportunities she took night after night. Before then, she was a virtual unknown." As an anonymous CNN executive points out: "She auditioned on our air for this gig." According to Ellison and Izadi, "McEnany was one of CNN President Jeff Zucker’s early experiments in assembling crowded panels with a mix of political views. They created the model for a pro-Trump cable news pundit, which has become a well-worn path to the White House." ALSO: Seth Meyers blasts McEnany for pretending coronavirus is no threat to America.