Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., said she called a CNN reporter a “liberal hack” because Americans want the media’s partisan bias to be exposed.
McSally, appearing on TV’s “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday, detailed her decision to blast CNN’s Manu Raju last month.
The encounter with Raju came as he asked her about the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in a Capitol Hill hallway.
She responded: “You're a liberal hack - I'm not talking to you. You're a liberal hack.”
McSally then walked into a hearing room.
On Tuesday, she recalled the incident.
"I'm a fighter pilot. I just speak plainly," she said. "Of course CNN's a bunch of liberal hacks, right? They decided to escalate... I wasn't emotional and broke under the pressure of CNN, which is just laughable. I just decided to call it like it was.
"And then they escalated. The ridiculousness of how CNN and their liberal friends in the media responded... I rest my case in how ridiculous they got."
And she added: "I think it rallied the base. People, I think, appreciate when we call the media the liberal media, especially CNN, what they are. They're in cahoots with the Democrats. On any given day, you can't tell the difference between what the DNC talking points... and what the liberal media is asking."