CNN's Manu Raju vs. Jeff Flake: Cat and mouse

The Conversation with Dasha Burns

POLITICO

Politics, News, Government

4.0 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2021

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s one of the most demanding jobs in Washington journalism: tracking down a lawmaker who’s in the news but doesn’t necessarily want to talk. For the Congress press corps, scoring that story-making quote might mean standing on a marble staircase for hours — if the senator or representative decides to talk at all. Playbook co-author Rachael Bade takes us inside the Capitol Hill media “scrum” — as reporters like CNN’s Manu Raju reveal their tricks of the trade… and former Senator Jeff Flake discloses all the times he pretended to talk on his phone while walking past reporters. Rachael Bade is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.Jeff Flake is former Republican Senator from Arizona and current Ambassador-designate to Turkey.Manu Raju is CNN's chief congressional correspondent.Annie Rees is a producer for POLITICO audio.Carlos Prieto is a producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO audio.Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO audio. Special thanks to Nicholas Wu, Kyle Cheney, Oriana Pawlyk, Nolan McCaskill, Juliegrace Brufke, Paul Kane who were also featured reporters in this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Imagine this, you're a lawmaker.
0:03.0	All right, recording now.
0:05.0	Let's say a senator.
0:07.0	Jeff Flake, a representative on the Senate from 2013 to 2019.
0:13.0	A former Republican senator, now ambassador to Turkey, but you get the idea.
0:18.0	Thanks.
0:19.0	And you're in the middle of negotiating a big piece of legislation.
0:22.0	And the last thing you want to do is talk to a scrum of annoying reporters.
0:26.0	Typically, if I wanted to avoid the media, go outside.
0:29.0	Media tends to congregate in the tunnel.
0:32.0	As soon as you get off a trolley, if you take it or you near the Capitol itself,
0:37.0	you're usually besieged by the press.
0:39.0	And if you want to avoid that, you can avoid some of it, at least, by going outside.
0:44.0	So you slip quietly out the back door?
0:47.0	That doesn't always succeed.
0:49.0	But sometimes it works.
0:50.0	And sometimes you have to take tougher measures, go through the Capitol visitors.
0:55.0	Take the Capitol visitor center and slip up through the kitchen.
0:59.0	I've done that.
1:00.0	And how far are you willing to go to avoid getting quoted?
1:04.0	You name it.
1:05.0	I've tried it.
	...

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