So Sean Spicer's book tour is going really, really well. The former Trump press secretary has been doing the rounds to promote his widely panned The Briefing, which is a retelling of what it was like behind the famous Washington press room podium.
During the UK portion of the press tour, Spicer came up against BBC Newsnight's Emily Maitlis. One specific clip focusing on Spicer's "lies" for Trump is starting to get a lot of attention.
Maitlis savaged Spicer for lying about crowd sizes for the US president, which he later joked about during a cameo appearance at the Emmys.
"You joked about it when you presented the Emmy Awards, but it wasn’t a joke," Maitlis said. "It was the start of the most corrosive culture."
"You played with the truth. You led us down a dangerous path. You have corrupted discourse for the entire world by going along with these lies."
"With all due, uh, I’m sorry Emily," Spicer replied. "You act as though everything began and ended with that. You’re taking no accountability for the many false narratives and false stories that the media perpetrated."
The first reviews of The Briefing have panned the book, with the Washington Post's Erik Wemple writing, "It is a bumbling effort at gaslighting Americans into doubting what they have seen with their own eyes."
On Monday, during the BBC interview, Maitlis didn't let up, calling out Spicer for his tenure as the president's spokesperson.
"I guess my question is, you were his press secretary and I know from what I have read that you care about the freedoms and the institutions and the democracy on which your country was built," she said.
"This is the office of president spouting lies or half-truths or knocking down real truths, and you were his agent for those months."