CNN anchor Dana Bash decimated her colleague David Urban on Sunday when he insisted that pro-Palestinian protests outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner received no cable news coverage.
“You were inside drinking!” Bash shot back after Urban, a CNN senior political commentator, claimed he never saw CNN’s reporting on the demonstrations.
During Sunday’s broadcast of CNN’s State of the Union, Urban was part of a panel that discussed Saturday evening’s dinner, otherwise known as “Nerd Prom.” At one point in the conversation, the former Trump campaign adviser contrasted President Joe Biden’s struggling poll numbers with the specter of “liberal elites” bashing conservatives at the D.C. gala.
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“The thousands of counties across America that voted for Trump didn‘t watch that last night. And their sentiments are reflected in that poll. And the Biden Administration and Team Biden, they‘re whistling past the graveyard here,” Urban stated. “So you can have a great night last night, but they‘re gonna be back on the trail, and they‘re pushing a big rock up a hill in a lot of states.”
He went on to say it was interesting that “no networks showed what was happening outside” of the dinner’s venue, noting that there were “tons of protesters” that the media seemingly ignored. According to The Daily Beast, roughly 100 demonstrators confronted WHCD guests with chants of “free, free Palestine” and “shame on you” while criticizing the press’ coverage of the “genocide” in Gaza.
“We did!” Bash objected to Urban’s claim, prompting the GOP operative to assert that he “missed it” and “didn’t see” CNN’s coverage on Saturday evening. CNN commentator S.E. Cupp added that she was on the air when the network covered the protests.
Bash, meanwhile, reminded him why he likely didn’t catch the reports.
“Because you were inside drinking,” the State of the Union host quipped, sparking laughter across the table.
The conservative pundit later took to social media to insist “for the record” that he “did not attend the WHCA dinner” and that he doesn’t drink.
After Urban pivoted to complain that the Biden campaign needs to address the border and the economy, S.E. Cupp jumped in to say this was just one evening “devoted to comedy” and “supporting the First Amendment.” She added that it “wasn’t a forum to put out policy” like the president’s State of the Union address.
“It was a night of fun and celebration and we deserve it,” Cupp concluded. “Journalists deserve it. Joe Biden deserved a night out. And we’re living in such absurdist times that if the President of the United States did not make fun of his opponent for spending his time on trial for hush-money payments to a porn star, then he is not living in reality!”
