CNBC reporter Michelle Caruso-Cabrera ripped White House Press Secretary Jay Carney for "fearmongering" about a possible default Tuesday on Morning Joe.
After Carney appeared on the program and accused congressional Republicans of leading the country on the path to defaulting on its debt Oct. 17, Caruso-Cabrera assailed that claim.
"There is a strong school of thought out there there that says, if we hit the debt ceiling, that it's not Armageddon, that we don't see skyrocketing interest rates," she said. "They keep saying default on our debt. We heard Jay Carney say that. The chances of that happening are next to zero because you can prioritize your payments. Defaulting on debt means the U.S. government would not make an interest payment on a U.S. treasury. Highly unlikely. And the other thing is if you pay that late, if it were even to happen, that is not default, and for investors to suddenly sell U.S. treasuries because there's going to be a three-day payment late, highly unlikely."
Carney had called the consequences of a default a disaster in the making during his appearance on Morning Joe.
"As you were talking about on October 17, the Treasury Department runs out of these extraordinary measures to keep borrowing and, you know, we would default," Carney said. "The consequences of that are unknowable, but they are catastrophic without question."
Apparently surprised by Caruso-Cabrera's strong statement against Carney's rhetoric, MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski joked that she and fellow skeptic Jon Hilsenrath should "tell us how you really feel."
"Fearmongering," she said flatly. "Jay Carney has been fearmongering on your network."