Neil Munro, the Irish-born journalist who made the news for interrupting President Obama during a speech on immigration at the White House on Friday has defended his actions on the Hannity show on Fox.
Munro, from Dublin works for the right-wing site the Daily Caller and interrupted Obama’s remarks in the Rose Garden on immigration last week.
Speaking of Obama he told Hannity, “We at The Daily Caller will not try to be easy on him and try not to be easy on the next president. It’s our job to work for the American people through our publication to provide them the information that the politicians are reluctant to hand out. We’ve got to do our job.”
“The only way to ask the questions was get him at the end as he’s leaving just before he dashes back to the Oval Office, and, yes, I mistimed it,” Munro said. “I thought I was getting him at the end. Frankly, I was wrong about that.”
Hannity stated in defence of Munro that Ronald Reagan was often interrupted from the podium
“I think you should have waited until he was finished but you recognize that. You said so. But I think the media’s done it a lot themselves so for them to be critical seems hypocritical to me.” Hanity stated
In a seperate interview given to Journal.ie in Ireland, Munro said he was surprised to hear himself condemned by a host of the nation’s top journalists, both liberal and conservatives, and has said the focus on his actions is 'ridiculous.'
Munro, who was born, raised and educated in Ireland, claimed he asked a 'conventional, obvious question' during the Rose Garden press conference on Friday.
But no one has ever interrupted a sitting president of the United States in the middle of a White House speech before, so Munro's actions set a precedent.
'Why'd you favour foreigners over Americans?' Munro asked.
The president was visibly infuriated to find himself interrupted at that moment and responded that he would respond to reporters questions later. The decision to stop deporting the children of illegal immigrants was 'the right thing to do for the American people,' the president added.
Later as Obama walked away from the podium, Munro shouted: 'What about American workers who are unemployed, while you employ foreigners?'
'It is ridiculous for reporters to focus on a reporter who asks a conventional, obvious question. Farmers don’t fuss over a farmer who milked the cows, and welders don’t talk about welders who have welded something.'
Munro studied at Gonzaga College before becoming a White House correspondent for the right wing internet site The Daily Caller.
The former UCD student told The Journal his interest in writing began when he landed an archivist job at an Irish government funded magazine in the early 1980's.
'That eventually led me to the United States where I got a job at National Journal in 1999 or so. There, I did a few good articles about stem-cells, the Tea Party, transsexuals, and Islam.'
After eleven years at the National Journal, Munro moved to Washington DC where he became White House correspondent for The Daily Caller where he says he writes 'for Americans outside the beltway.'
'Indirectly, they gave me a Green Card, so I should repay them,' he added.
Here's the video:
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