Things got uncomfortable on CNN Friday afternoon when host Wolf Blitzer chided political analyst Gloria Borger about getting better sources within the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump announced Friday he had named John F. Kelly, the current Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, his new Chief of Staff. Reports emerged that Reince Priebus had privately resigned a day earlier.
Priebus had been embattled in the job since nearly the beginning of Trump's tenure, but Borger said she had gotten some "pushback" as to whether he was on his way out.
"I think in a way the Reince Priebus departure is not a surprise, although we did get pushback on it today," Borger said. "But we had heard—
"When you say pushback, a lot of our viewers don't understand that," Blitzer interrupted. "Are these people simply out of the loop? They don't know what they're talking about? Or are they lying?"
Borger looked taken aback.
"Uh, it could be a little bit of both, and it could also be that the person involved didn't know at that point," she said. "I mean—you know, Wolf, it's hard to know. All I know is you're only as good as your sources, and you have a source that tells you that Reince Priebus will be gone, and then you have a good source that tells you that's not the case."
"Well, clearly the sources that were pushing you away are not good sources, so you've got to be careful with those sources down the road," Blitzer said, as Borger laughed. "Either they don't know what they're talking about, or they're lying ... That's my experience as a reporter."
Borger retorted that the White House had "competing interests," and that "you never know until you know" in these situations, particularly when Trump is involved.