White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham lashed out at CNN for “weaponizing journalism” by intentionally taking her words out of context.

Grisham blasted the liberal network Wednesday in what appeared to be a response to a segment that portrayed President Donald Trump as a serial liar. Calling CNN “so biased & dishonest,” the former spokesperson for first lady Melania Trump accused the network of using her remarks to further their “partisan” agenda.

.@CNN is so biased & dishonest! They just used one of my quotes out of context from another story to try & further their own partisan political agenda. Weaponizing journalism in an effort to undermine this President & those who work for the Administration (and country) must stop!

— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) August 29, 2019

While Trump’s communications director did not specify what CNN had done to set her off, her tweet came on the heels of a segment in which CNN host John Berman appeared to connect comments by Grisham about Trump’s statements to a recent report alleging the president would pardon any aides if they broke the law to help build the border wall.

In a tweet posted promoting the video clip of Berman sitting in for Anderson Cooper, CNN asked “Was White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham kidding when she asserted President Trump doesn’t lie?”

.@JohnBerman: Was White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham kidding when she asserted President Trump doesn’t lie? #KeepingThemHonest pic.twitter.com/BcY7ph9cAa

— CNN (@CNN) August 29, 2019

In the segment, Berman pointed to a Washington Post report that showed “just how far the president would be willing to go to get his border wall.”

“Two officials tell CNN he’s so desperate to build the border wall by Election Day, he recently told aides he would pardon them for any laws they break to get it done, “Berman said in his commentary Wednesday.

He went on to highlight clips of Trump making comments which were dismissed as jokes or sarcasm before he ended by tying in Grisham’s unrelated interview with The Washington Post.

The new press secretary was asked if she thought the president ever lies, citing The Post’s Fact Checker which had “documented 12,019 false or misleading claims made by Trump during his presidency.”

“I don’t think they’re lies,” she told The Post. “I think the president communicates in a way that some people, especially the media, aren’t necessarily comfortable with. A lot of times they take him so literally. I know people will roll their eyes if I say he was just kidding or was speaking in hypotheticals, but sometimes he is.”

Berman read Grisham’s quote in his segment, appearing to connect it to the president’s alleged remarks about pardoning aides.

Trump called out the newspaper for its “Fake Interview” in a tweet Wednesday.

The Amazon Washington Post and @CNN just did a Fake Interview on Pardons for Aids on the Wall, and that I didn’t think the Wall on the Southern Border was that important to stop Illegals wanting to come into our Country. WRONG, vitally important. Will make a BIG impact. So bad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2019

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Frieda Powers

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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