Jimmy Kimmel’s FULL INTERVIEW with Sean Spicer — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00well here we go from the from the Oval
2. 0:02Office to the bushes in the Rose Garden
3. 0:04our first guest has seen it all he
4. 0:07survived one of the worst jobs ever and
5. 0:09he's free at last to speak about it from
6. 0:11our nation's capitol please say hello to
7. 0:14former White House press secretary Sean
8. 0:16Spicer
9. 0:17[Applause]
10. 0:31it's very good to have you here thank
11. 0:33you for coming I know I was gonna get
12. 0:35that kind of applause I'm glad I left
13. 0:36earlier is it weird is it weird for you
14. 0:38to get applause when you walk out onto a
15. 0:40stage house usually you're looking at
16. 0:41all these grim faced reporters
17. 0:43yeah especially in California
18. 0:48have you been harassed no no it's been
19. 0:50unbelievably Pleasant since for last
20. 0:54month people have been very very
21. 0:55supportive and and that's I think very
22. 0:57helpful to know people will come on said
23. 0:59thank you for your service I didn't vote
24. 1:00for the president I'm not a Republican
25. 1:02but you know I appreciate you serve in
26. 1:04the country and I think that gets back
27. 1:06to what this is should always be about
28. 1:08is that we have elections they get
29. 1:09decided and then people with both
30. 1:11parties should be able to serve this are
31. 1:12you distancing yourself from the
32. 1:13president right now absolutely well you
33. 1:18know this is obviously a hard job and I
34. 1:20mean and it turned out to be kind of
35. 1:23funny in a lot of ways was it for you
36. 1:25[Laughter]
37. 1:27[Applause]
38. 1:34let's go back to the beginning how did
39. 1:36you get the job of press secretary in
40. 1:37the first place so I had been at the
41. 1:40Republican National Committee for about
42. 1:41six years
43. 1:43you know our job is to sync up with the
44. 1:45nominee after the Indiana primary Trump
45. 1:49became the desert of the apparent
46. 1:50nominee went into the convention they
47. 1:53ran a rather unconventional campaign and
48. 1:56so there was a lot of need for
49. 1:57communications staff and and I was asked
50. 2:00to go up and start helping out on a more
51. 2:02full time basis help up and down the
52. 2:04ticket so I started basically commuting
53. 2:06to New York the last week of August and
54. 2:08spent the last three and a half months
55. 2:10getting to know the president you know
56. 2:11traveling with him doing the events and
57. 2:14you know and then we won and I said
58. 2:17you're the guy and then you know I got a
59. 2:19phone call from the president he said
60. 2:21you know let's let's do this I I want
61. 2:23you to do the job and and I thanked him
62. 2:25profusely and and off we went
63. 2:27and so right off the bat your first ever
64. 2:29press conference you get in there and
65. 2:32it's the day after the inauguration
66. 2:34right yes and you are charged with the
67. 2:37job of going in front of the press and
68. 2:40saying that the inauguration crowd was
69. 2:43the biggest crowd I
70. 2:45ever biggest audience the the President
71. 3:02himself if it was up to you would this
72. 3:04even have been a topic you know if it
73. 3:07was up to me I would have probably
74. 3:08weren't a different suit uh-huh I
75. 3:10thought I was going in on a Saturday
76. 3:12morning to set my office up get the
77. 3:14computer make sure the emails went out
78. 3:16you know and and and somebody told you
79. 3:18you need to go out there and say the
80. 3:20president wanted to make sure that the
81. 3:21record got set straight and why is he so
82. 3:24concerned with size and have you ever
83. 3:27seen the president naked
84. 3:28I have not do you have no known okay
85. 3:30what but look I said it at the time and
86. 3:32I believe it that I think in all
87. 3:34seriousness that the again whether or
88. 3:36not you voted for or not the president
89. 3:38won the election he was faced a lot of
90. 3:40headwinds and and I think there was a
91. 3:42faction of people out there that didn't
92. 3:45want to give him the credit that he
93. 3:46rightly deserved and I think he takes a
94. 3:47lot of that sometimes personally some of
95. 3:48us who worked very hard to to get him
96. 3:51elected felt as though a lot of folks in
97. 3:53the media in particular constantly
98. 3:55sought to undermine the validity of that
99. 3:57election and and so you have to
100. 3:59understand it sometimes from that
101. 4:00perspective but the validity of the
102. 4:02election compared to looking at photos
103. 4:05of the crowd at an inauguration I mean
104. 4:09they're like ones this and one is this
105. 4:11did you try to talk him out of I think
106. 4:14we you know there's a lot of us that
107. 4:16wanted to be focused on on his agenda
108. 4:18what he spoke about his inaugural
109. 4:20address so you know look but he's
110. 4:22president he made it a so you have to go
111. 4:24along even though you you if even if you
112. 4:27know what I'm as you say whether it was
113. 4:28or not but even if you know the crowd
114. 4:31wasn't bigger you have to go as press
115. 4:34secretary you have to say that it was
116. 4:35look your job as press secretary is to
117. 4:37represent the president's voice and to
118. 4:40make sure that you are articulating what
119. 4:42he believes his vision is on policy on
120. 4:45issues of in other areas that he wants
121. 4:48to articulate whether or not you agree
122. 4:50or not isn't your job your job to give
123. 4:52him advice and and which is what we
124. 4:55would do on a variety of issues all the
125. 4:56time he would always listen to that
126. 4:59advice
127. 4:59but ultimately he's the president he
128. 5:01would say I agree with you sometimes or
129. 5:03that's a good point incorporated or
130. 5:04sometimes he would say depending on the
131. 5:07issue look III know what I believe and
132. 5:09this is what I think the right thing to
133. 5:10do is and then you have to march out
134. 5:12there and go yeah he had a bigger crowd
135. 5:13everybody he's the president
136. 5:17yeah he decides I understand that's
137. 5:19that's what you signed up to do so a lot
138. 5:21of these guys these members of the press
139. 5:23were your friends right yeah I think
140. 5:26word yeah word
141. 5:28so this is Jonathan Karl from ABC News
142. 5:31who was a friend of yours I've known
143. 5:33Jonathan for a long time okay all right
144. 5:35so here's how its kind of got it going
145. 5:37is it your intention to always tell the
146. 5:40truth from that podium and we you
147. 5:42pledged never to knowingly say something
148. 5:45that is not it is it's an honor to do
149. 5:48this and yes I believe that we have to
150. 5:52be honest with the American people I
151. 5:53think sometimes we can disagree with the
152. 5:54facts
153. 5:55can we though disagree with the facts
154. 5:58well I look I think the point is is that
155. 6:00you can look at a set of an argument or
156. 6:04a set of facts and come out with one
157. 6:05opinion someone else can say I well the
158. 6:07facts are the same here I come out with
159. 6:09a different conclusion I say and so I
160. 6:11mean that's what that's what makes our
161. 6:13country great is that you know there's
162. 6:15there's ways that you can look at
163. 6:16economic models and say you know we
164. 6:18believe that growth rates will be higher
165. 6:20or lower and that's like if I were to
166. 6:22say to you I'm sitting on a horse right
167. 6:24now then you're well you'd say Yeah
168. 6:26right exactly
169. 6:28that's it
170. 6:32so I want to go ask about Jonathan there
171. 6:35when he's asking you this question are
172. 6:37you like you son of a I've known
173. 6:39you for 20 years there were a couple
174. 6:42other words cable you know yeah there's
175. 6:50a there's times when you're thinking
176. 6:51yourself you know montano policy or a
177. 6:56particular instance but to get up there
178. 6:58in question
179. 6:59you know I'm day one my integrity I
180. 7:02think was not something that I
181. 7:03anticipated yeah well I'm sure although
182. 7:06when you brought that crowd size thing
183. 7:07out it like you opened this terrible
184. 7:09Pandora's box do you think that's what
185. 7:11got you off to like a kind of a bad
186. 7:12start with the press corps III don't
187. 7:15think it was it was probably the the
188. 7:16that's a start Donald did the president
189. 7:19watch all of your press conferences I
190. 7:21don't think not everyone if not every
191. 7:23one of them but would he be waiting for
192. 7:24you afterwards there were some days when
193. 7:27you know he would at some point either
194. 7:29see clips or watch it depending on the
195. 7:32day and what what meetings were
196. 7:33happening and what time the briefing was
197. 7:35and and so a lot of times he would
198. 7:37provide feedback based on again my job
199. 7:39is to articulate his position yeah right
200. 7:41and so he would say hey I don't you know
201. 7:43I thought that was really good how you
202. 7:45articulated this I think I would have
203. 7:48phrased this differently and really he's
204. 7:49that constructive in the way he put
205. 7:51sometimes depends on the issue but it
206. 7:54depended on the issue and again it's
207. 7:55it's my job yeah to speak on his behalf
208. 7:58yeah they're not speaking in the way
209. 8:00that he wants obviously he wanted to
210. 8:02make sure that he corrected them
211. 8:04Donald Trump comes out and undermines
212. 8:07what they were saying for example Sean
213. 8:09Spicer when he said this is not a Muslim
214. 8:12ban so when the president would tweet
215. 8:33did you have an alert on your phone
216. 8:35yes did he did he ever run a tweet by
217. 8:41you before tweeting it I don't maybe
218. 8:46once or twice did you ask him to to run
219. 8:52by yeah no you didn't did you did it
220. 8:54ever like like wake you up in the middle
221. 8:57of the night anything I think there were
222. 9:00times when you were you might have
223. 9:01wanted to go to bed and said okay this
224. 9:02is gonna be a little longer night or you
225. 9:05would get up and you know the first
226. 9:06thing but that's that was the you know
227. 9:08one of the president's most effective
228. 9:10tools on the campaign trail that it
229. 9:11continues to utilize it so you would you
230. 9:14were constantly kept on your toes and
231. 9:15and I will tell you the hit there is no
232. 9:17one that's working harder than him when
233. 9:19it comes to the hours of the day he's up
234. 9:20late he's up early and that as a staffer
235. 9:22you know you usually are trying to get
236. 9:24ahead of your boss and and you've never
237. 9:26tried just accidentally dropping his
238. 9:28phone in the toilet I did not he they're
239. 9:31not see you should have called me I
240. 9:32could have helped you with this job
241. 9:34you've been a lot of I know this
242. 9:39idea of fake news yeah you know again we
243. 9:41talked about your lazy of a
244. 9:42long-standing relationship with members
245. 9:44of the press do you agree that the vast
246. 9:48majority of I mean that the vast
247. 9:50majority the majority of journalists are
248. 9:53decent people who are looking to get the
249. 9:56truth and to write the truth I think
250. 9:58probably the majority yeah there are a
251. 10:01lot that have now you know I always like
252. 10:05to say that they're trying they'd rather
253. 10:06be first and right and I think that's
254. 10:08unfortunate because it gives a bad name
255. 10:10to those who who actually do take the
256. 10:12time to do it writers a lot of that
257. 10:13people want to just get right and they
258. 10:15were and it's also there's a line
259. 10:17between an
260. 10:18and this is where I think a lot of
261. 10:19journalists have cross the line which is
262. 10:22they go on Twitter or another social
263. 10:24media and and start to perpetuate myths
264. 10:26or make back and forth and say well
265. 10:28that's not a story a minute journalist
266. 10:30go on what again where I what I found
267. 10:41frustrating was that there were a lot of
268. 10:42times when they were literally creating
269. 10:44a story out of whole cloth that didn't
270. 10:46exist and I think that that's difficult
271. 10:48because if you're a viewer or a reader
272. 10:51and you see something you're trusting
273. 10:53these individuals to give you what is is
274. 10:55the best you know the whole truth as
275. 10:57opposed to a one-sided way that's gonna
276. 10:59promote you know a view or a click but
277. 11:01the president it seems that what he
278. 11:04calls fake news is really anything that
279. 11:06criticizes him and then he'll give
280. 11:09validity to wacky news sources sometimes
281. 11:12because they're complementary and do you
282. 11:15think that is a dangerous thing to
283. 11:17delegitimize the press for America I
284. 11:19think it's a two-way street and and when
285. 11:21these guys in the press corps go after
286. 11:26the president in ways that are only
287. 11:27coming and again it's it's it's sort of
288. 11:29like what your mom's the two wrongs
289. 11:30don't make a right and so I think
290. 11:31sometimes when the press corps attacks
291. 11:33the president undermines him or calls
292. 11:35into question his credibility from the
293. 11:37outset I think it creates a very poor
294. 11:40relationship overall and I think that
295. 11:41there is some area that could deserve a
296. 11:43reset and hopefully I think Sara's done
297. 11:45a phenomenal job of really trying to
298. 11:47take the tone down and get back so when
299. 11:50you say there were two wrongs you mean
300. 11:51Donald Trump the present times Roy no I
301. 11:53didn't I didn't say that but what
302. 11:58what I'm sorry you don't work there
303. 12:00anymore didn't have to worry about him
304. 12:02we can protect you here I got the best
305. 12:04security guy in the world I I believe
306. 12:12that look I that a free press is is
307. 12:16paramount to a democracy and it's what
308. 12:18makes our country great that we do have
309. 12:20the ability like so many places on earth
310. 12:22don't have that ability to speak freely
311. 12:24to have a free press but it is an
312. 12:26awesome responsibility for those members
313. 12:28of the press corps to have and they need
314. 12:30to understand that when they cross the
315. 12:32line or were no member of the press
316. 12:34corps crosses the line that they have a
317. 12:35responsibility to help hold that in and
318. 12:38I've never seen a group of individuals
319. 12:40who protect themselves like the press
320. 12:42corps does especially the White House
321. 12:43press corps they've never once during my
322. 12:46tenure and at least in my recollection
323. 12:47ever called out someone who is who has
324. 12:49crossed the line on the story and I
325. 12:51think it undermines is that I rarely
326. 12:54have seen any you know they always have
327. 12:56an excuse for why that story you know we
328. 12:59were gonna correct it and we checked
329. 13:01with the sources and now and it's never
330. 13:03there's never an admission of guilt
331. 13:04once in a while you'll see the little
332. 13:06correction that says you know we erred
333. 13:07in it you know putting the period here
334. 13:09or there but I do believe that that the
335. 13:12healthier press corps that we have the
336. 13:15better democracy that we have lumping
337. 13:17everyone together though as fake news
338. 13:19just seems terrible to me I mean in a
339. 13:20way but here at Catholic and I'm a
340. 13:22Catholic as well I am offended when
341. 13:24people lump all priests together as
342. 13:26child abusers I find that to be unfair
343. 13:29to those who aren't I agree but but as
344. 13:32someone who's as a conservative and a
345. 13:34Republican I spent 25 years in
346. 13:36Washington DC being told conservatives
347. 13:38want this Republicans are against this
348. 13:40so I agree it but it's the press corps
349. 13:43that also lumps all of us into the same
350. 13:45bucket as well and says conservatives
351. 13:46don't care about this the Republicans
352. 13:49are racist those are if those statements
353. 13:52are not right then it's not right so
354. 13:54again it's it's that whole idea of two
355. 13:55wrongs don't make a right the press
356. 13:56player wants to attack Republicans
357. 13:58attack conservatives undermine our our
358. 14:01attempt to have a constructive dialogue
359. 14:02and I think it's a two-way street so if
360. 14:04we don't want to lump every journalist
361. 14:06into the same thing then don't lump
362. 14:08every Republican and every conservative
363. 14:09into the same box
364. 14:11okay I know think everyone is I mean
365. 14:14you've got fox news is certainly not
366. 14:16doing that and you consider them to be
367. 14:18part of the press I mean it's it's it
368. 14:21really is I mean it seems almost like a
369. 14:22childish way to interact with with each
370. 14:26other as tonight and that's why I'm
371. 14:27saying I think that there's there's a
372. 14:29time that we can start taking down the
373. 14:32temperature and getting back to a more
374. 14:34constructive and civil dial you maybe
375. 14:35when Mike Pence takes over all right and
376. 14:43especially you know that one of the
377. 14:45things that makes us again such a great
378. 14:46country is that we have this ability to
379. 14:48have the discourse that we have but I
380. 14:50think that what we want to do is to
381. 14:51continue to be that place in the world
382. 14:53that people look to and admire and the
383. 14:55values and the principles that we have
384. 14:58begin today by apologizing on behalf of
385. 15:02you to me you have treated me these last
386. 15:07two weeks and that apology is not
387. 15:10accepted because I'm not here to be your
388. 15:14buddy I'm here to swallow a gun and I'm
389. 15:17here to take Nate
390. 15:20[Applause]
391. 15:30you thought that was funny all right I
392. 15:32was that was kind of like did the
393. 15:35president he didn't think that was funny
394. 15:37III don't think particularly annoyed by
395. 15:41the fact that a woman was playing you I
396. 15:43really didn't ask a ton of question yeah
397. 15:46so that may have been a contributing
398. 15:49situation that is like they're making
399. 15:51fun of me and you're mad at me for it
400. 15:53and she wins an Emmy this is a we posted
401. 16:03this on Twitter there's us together what
402. 16:05year was this that was 9 2007 I think I
403. 16:10was filling in for Regis with Kelly
404. 16:12outside and it was Fleet Week and there
405. 16:15you are in your uniform that's that's
406. 16:17pretty crazy yeah I don't know what I'm
407. 16:23looking at there but I apologize for
408. 16:25that
409. 16:26do you um this Anthony scaramouche II
410. 16:28character so we know you didn't get
411. 16:30along with the guy obvious actually
412. 16:31that's not true I hate to so I've known
413. 16:35Anthony from the campaign he had done a
414. 16:36lot of surrogate workforce appearing on
415. 16:39different abolition networks supporting
416. 16:41the president and the campaign so we had
417. 16:43known each other through through the
418. 16:44campaign but when he was hired that's
419. 16:47when you said yeah but again it wasn't
420. 16:49personal it wasn't that I have anything
421. 16:50against Anthony oh I didn't feel
422. 16:52Anthony's been a very successful in
423. 16:54business he's made a ton of money but I
424. 16:56just didn't feel as though he had the
425. 16:58qualifications or the background to work
426. 17:01in the Communications Office I said and
427. 17:03my view is that if I'm going to have to
428. 17:05partner with somebody that I don't
429. 17:07believe had the skillset to execute the
430. 17:09job then it was incumbent upon me to
431. 17:11either step aside or make my you know
432. 17:15make my voice note I did I told the
433. 17:16president I I thought it was an opera if
434. 17:18he wanted a clean slate that he wanted a
435. 17:21change that I respected that but it was
436. 17:23in his best interest to have me step
437. 17:25aside completely and let Anthony move
438. 17:27forward when that New Yorker article
439. 17:28came out where he said all those crazy
440. 17:30things and apparently didn't seem to
441. 17:32realize he was on the record where were
442. 17:34you when you read that I don't I I was
443. 17:38cause in my office did somebody give you
444. 17:39a heads up started I think I started to
445. 17:43read some stuff on Twitter that there
446. 17:44was a story coming out and and were you
447. 17:46cackling like a maniac when you read
448. 17:48that look I don't like to as you meant I
449. 17:52don't think it's right to relish in
450. 17:54somebody else's can you know problems
451. 17:57and so I I just as a person I don't
452. 17:59think that's right but again I think it
453. 18:01proved my point
454. 18:02and and that to do this job is one in
455. 18:06which you have to have the proper
456. 18:07background I think you are I imagine you
457. 18:10high-fiving everyone there this is a
458. 18:13shot from your farewell party yeah and I
459. 18:16have to say I've never seen anyone
460. 18:18happier than you are the president said
461. 18:27to me right before I left he said my
462. 18:30gosh you look 10 years younger do you
463. 18:34think Donald Trump wants to be President
464. 18:35absolutely you do really yeah listen I I
465. 18:38think you can disagree but I will tell
466. 18:40you I've got I got to know him fairly
467. 18:42well he's a good man that really cares
468. 18:44about this country and so you may not
469. 18:45always agree with his policies but I'd
470. 18:47know his hearts in the right price he
471. 18:49truly cares about this country he wants
472. 18:51to give back you are doing public
473. 18:53speaking now and are you enjoying doing
474. 18:55that it's it's yes is there a queue a
475. 18:58portion or you don't at that yeah
476. 19:00there's yes there's been a Q&A there has
477. 19:02been a cute little nicer it's a nicer
478. 19:04Q&A yeah and will you write a tell-all
479. 19:07book we're not every detail you will not
480. 19:09know why because I don't think that's
481. 19:11the right thing to do I think if you
482. 19:12someone entrust you to bring you into
483. 19:15the inner circle of something that it is
484. 19:17it would be an act of betrayal now I
485. 19:18think I've learned a lot from my
486. 19:20experience that it was an amazing honor
487. 19:22to serve in this position and I would
488. 19:25like to maybe share some of the
489. 19:27experiences with folks yes share some of
490. 19:29the lessons learned some of the insight
491. 19:30will write to tell some book I will type
492. 19:32were right I tell book pictures but I I
493. 19:36wouldn't I don't think it would be the
494. 19:38right thing to do but I think there's
495. 19:39something there there's I had a really
496. 19:41interesting pieces of history that I had
497. 19:44the unbelievable honor and privilege to
498. 19:46be part of and I'd love to maybe share
499. 19:48that with the American people who have
500. 19:49Trump by the balls right now I mean if
501. 19:51you were
502. 19:52that book you if you hold on to writing
503. 19:54that book you could literally run this
504. 19:57country from some kind of shadow
505. 20:00organization at your house I appreciate
506. 20:02I appreciate that well I thank you for
507. 20:05being here I really do appreciate it
508. 20:07it's great to me I am Jimmy Kimmel if
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