Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel dressed down Politico’s Mike Allen Wednesday for revealing the Emanuel family’s holiday travel plans at a Playbook event, asking for the White House correspondent’s cell number and refusing his apology on stage.
The situation immediately became tense after Allen asked, “We were saying backstage you want to come back as an Emanuel child, take your young people on fascinating trips around the world, headed these holidays to Cuba. Why?”
“Well, first of all, thanks for telling everybody what I’m going to do with my family,” Emanuel tensely responded. “You just had a private conservation with me and now you decided to make that public. I really don’t appreciate that.”
The mayor continued: “I’m expressing to you now, publicly, my displeasure. My family’s trips are my family’s.”
Emanuel, Obama’s former chief of staff, did answer Allen’s question, saying he and his wife Amy make an effort each year with their holiday travel plans to expose their children to other cultures.
“And yes, this year, if my wife doesn’t kill me because of what you just did, we will take our kids to Cuba to expose our kids to that culture,” he said. Emanuel finished by asking Allen for his cell number “because I’d like you to listen to Amy.”
Allen tried to apologize, but Emanuel cut him off. “I don’t know if you know this, but it’s not going to work.”
The exchange took place during a Politico’s Playbook Breakfast series event Wednesday morning in Chicago. The event was slated to be a discussion about Illinois politics and “news of the day” with Emanuel.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, Allen hadn’t commented on the exchange, but was retweeting political journalists defending him on Twitter.
Yup. @mikeallen is a pro. https://t.co/CMYq6cNqgU
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) December 2, 2015
Rahm knows – and plays – the game better than anyone. Don’t tell reporters things you dont want made public. https://t.co/JzDgiCX9jj
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) December 2, 2015
Pro tip, @RahmEmanuel: If you don’t want the public to know something, don’t tell it to a reporter >> https://t.co/2j5FCXmXRt
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) December 2, 2015
Think @RahmEmanuel is under a little stress? Goes all Michael Corleone on @mikeallen, nicest guy in DC: https://t.co/rPw1mfhFq3
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) December 2, 2015
It’s been a rough week for Allen, who earlier apologized after an email of him offering Chelsea Clinton a “no risk” interview surfaced.
Watch the full exchange:
This post has been updated.
Why do people even talk to Mike Allen?
“…when we went out and protected that old-growth forest, that was supposed to be just between you and me, man!”
Rahm, do us a favor and resign. As a bonus, nobody will ask you about your vacation plans.
One post said that Rahm is under pressure, and I think that is an understatement. He definitely kept the police investigation into the shooting last year under wraps so he could be reelected without trying to answer for that. His city is doing poorly in so many ways, and that’s a shame. Crime is up, jobs are down. The vacuum is always filled by something, and crime is usually at the top of the list. The only way to get the young men off the streets is to offer work that pays decent wages and maybe that would be a start.
At least he didn’t ask if “Cuba” was code for “Appalachian Trail”…