CNN’s Cornish Mocks Sean Spicer as a ‘Joke,' Then Gets Schooled

CNN This Morning 8-13-26

On today's CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish decided former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer was fair game for a cheap shot. She soon learned otherwise. 

Discussing the search for a successor to departing press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Cornish contrasted Leavitt’s tenure with Spicer’s. 
 

“She didn’t become a national joke like a Sean Spicer,” Cornish declared. She piled on: Spicer “ended up with Dancing with the Stars and not in the history books.” 

Former Trump White House communications director Mike Dubke wasn’t having it. “Well, he’s a friend of mine,” Dubke interjected. Cornish tried to wave him off: “Okay, you can defend him when I come back.” Dubke noted that Dancing with the Stars is “a nice show.” At that time, liberals attacked ABC for "normalizing" the Trump aide.

CNN senior media analyst Sara Fischer later undercut Cornish's “joke” crack. “Sean Spicer has his own show,” she noted. “He’s been able to create a media career out of it.” 

By the end of the segment, a somewhat chastened Cornish circled back. “And Sean Spicer, I learned my lesson. Doing good. Congratulations.” 

Cornish wasn't the only liberal on the show to get schooled today. Former Biden comms person Meghan Hays insisted that anyone taking the spox job at the end of Trump's term would suffer “reputational harm.” 

Dubke had a dry reply ready. “I’m gonna give Governor Sarah Sanders a call after this show,” he said, “and ask her how it worked out.” 

Zing! 

 

Fischer, in addition to bringing Spicer's successful post-spox career to Cornish's attention, offered surprisingly strong praise for Leavitt’s performance. 

She called the outgoing press secretary “incredibly responsive,” “a very eloquent speaker,” and “a very skilled communicator” who used “plain simple language” both the press and the public could understand. “She’s going to be a very, very tough act to follow,” Fischer concluded. 

The panel also floated possible replacements—deputy press secretary Anna Kelly, Lara Trump, Alina Habba, and CNN’s own Scott Jennings. A clip was aired of Bakari Sellers saying that Democrats are afraid of Jennings getting the gig—and that's why he'll be hired! 

Cornish’s casual dismissal of Spicer as a punchline backfired on her. On this particular morning, the “joke” landed on the Audie's side of the desk. 

Here's the transcript. 

CNN This Morning 
8/13/26 
6:01 am EDT 

DONALD TRUMP: Isn’t she great? Isn't Karoline great! When she gets up there with that beautiful face and those lips that don’t stop, bop, bop, bop, like a little machine gun. She’s got no fear. 

AUDIE CORNISH: Help wanted at the White House. Karoline Leavitt heads for the exit. So who’s next for the gig? 

Good morning, everybody. I’m Audie Cornish. We’re gonna start there, with the search for a new White House press secretary. President Trump says one of his most loyal soldiers, Karoline Leavitt, is leaving to spend more time with her kids. She will remain a top advisor. 

But replacing her, that might be difficult. A successor would join just months before the midterms. They’d need to help Trump justify the war in Iran, defend high prices and the president’s low approval ratings, and they would join in the wake of Trump’s secret plane switch, for example, which saw the White House telling reporters there was no security threat, only to find out there was one. 

So let’s talk about the main qualifications. They’ve got to be loyal, fluent in MAGA, and ready to dismiss reporters. 

KAROLINE LEAVITT: Of course the president supports peaceful protests. What a stupid question. 

President Trump doesn’t bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell. 

Whether or not this happened, frankly, it does not really matter. 

It has rave reviews because the president just tells it like it is. 

CORNISH: So today in the Group Chat, we’ve got Sarah Fischer, CNN senior media analyst and senior media reporter at Axios, Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications director, and Meghan Hays, former Biden White House director of message planning. 

So before we get to our candidates for the job over here, Sara, I wanna talk to you about the job, because she was not, she didn’t become a national joke like a Sean Spicer. She didn't -- 

MIKE DUBKE: He’s a friend of mine. 

CORNISH: Well, he, okay, you can defend him when I come back. But he ended up with Dancing with the Stars and not in the history books. So I’m saying that. 

DUBKE: That’s a nice show, yes. 

CORNISH: But in the meantime, you had someone like Karine Jean-Pierre, who had a very combative, rough reputation with the press. What is her legacy? 

SARA FISCHER: Incredibly responsive. If you reach out to Karoline Leavitt or anyone in the Trump press team, you got a response and you got it quickly. So that matters. I think people understood the role that she played was to defend the president, beyond educating reporters. 

However, I don’t think most people who deal with her felt like they didn’t come back with answers. If they weren’t the answers you like, that’s one thing. But you got responses. 

And then the last thing is she’s just a very eloquent speaker. Karoline Leavitt was easy to understand. She used plain, simple language that not just the press could understand, but the American people watching clips of her on Fox News could understand.  So, she was a very skilled communicator. She’s going to be a very, very tough act to follow. 

I'm curious to see eager if Donald Trump is eager to put somebody in who the press can get along with, or somebody who’s just gonna defend his message till death? Because I think the press getting along with your press secretary and respecting them, it actually does wonders. I think Karoline Leavitt’s a good example of that. 

. . . 

MEGHAN HAYS: And I think it will take a long time to fill. But I think it will take a long time to fill because Trump is on his way out, and this is a reputational harm for somebody to step in, unless you are a true believer. 

CORNISH: Before I go, I wanna talk about those potential somebodies. Prediction markets, who of course are on everything these days, are looking at a long list. They've got Anna Kelly, just the deputy press secretary, next person up, right? Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, Fox News host. Alina Habba, the former acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey. And then, Scott Jennings, a CNN political commentator. He was actually asked about it last night. 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, first of all, are you throwing your hat in the ring? 

BAKARI SELLERS: Will you serve, Scott? Answer the question. 

SCOTT JENNINGS: I don’t know. 

SELLERS: Let me help, Scott. Democrats are afraid of Scott Jennings becoming press secretary. There you go. Now you got the job. 

CORNISH: I mean, that is kind of the criteria, but what are your last thoughts on this? 

FISCHER: I think it would be tough for somebody like Scott to exit the role that he’s playing now, where he can be an outside analyst. That’s a really great position for him to be in. 

CORNISH: Not reputational harm, which I thought was a great point. 

FISCHER: Yeah, exactly. I think for some of the former Trump officials and allies, this actually is a great opportunity. 

Of course, you’re walking into the fires then, but most press secretaries and communications directors are in this role for a year or two. So the way I look at it for them is, if you can survive that year or two, the opportunities on the other side are enormous. It just depends on whether or not you’re gonna blow it. 

HAYS: Look at Karine: I just don't think the opportunities -- 

FISCHER: Look at, there's a lot of people who have actually come out on the other side. 

Going back to Sean Spicer, he now has his own show; he’s been able to create a media career out of it. 

Even Anthony Scaramucci—the Mooch lasted ten days, but Mooch is still on CNBC and is all over the place. 

HAYS: He had something long before. The reputational damage for someone who is not a media personality before going into this is really hard. If you want to continue to work in politics, you are at the tail end of someone’s administration who has a really low approval rating. 

DUBKE: I'm going to give Governor Sarah Sanders a call after this show and ask her how it worked out. 

HAYS: Okay! 

CORNISH: And Sean Spicer, I learned my lesson. Doing good. Congratulations.