White House reporter April Ryan blistered Sean Spicer on Thursday for his "crazy" off-camera briefing a day earlier, saying President Trump's press secretary looked "very scared" and was akin to "raw meat in front of hungry hyenas."
In the short briefing, Spicer claimed that Trump's viral typo "covfefe" tweet on Wednesday had actual meaning for a small group of people. Ryan could be heard in the audio asking repeatedly what "covfefe" actually meant.
Asked to describe the scene on CNN's "New Day," Ryan did not hold back.
"It was crazy," she said. "I hate to use that word, but it really was."
Ryan said she initially assumed "covfefe" was a typo for "coverage" but became confused after Spicer's odd explanation.
"It was a 10-minute or 11-minute, off-camera briefing that was backed right into a presidential event," she said. "It was timed perfectly. Sean came out. He looked like he was meat, raw meat in front of hungry hyenas. He looked very scared yesterday."
The spin is "out of control now," she added.
"It just doesn't make any sense," Ryan said. "If you say only a small group of people know what that word means, tell us what that word means."
The remarks came during an in-depth discussion of the "covfefe" tweet on CNN, which panelists said spoke to deeper problems for Trump and how he runs his White House.