McEnany on CNN's Jim Acosta taking science quote out of context: 'It was false and it was wrong'

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Preview: Kayleigh McEnany responds to criticism from Jim Acosta and Jonathan Karl

Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, responds to criticism from CNN's Jim Acosta and ABC News' Jonathan Karl on 'Watters World.'

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Saturday criticized CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta during an appearance on "Watters' World" after he took her comments out of context Thursday, saying what he did was "false and it was wrong."

"It’s an admission that they can’t debate on the merits, Jesse. And look, this is the equivalent: If I was to say to you right now there is no universe in which Jim Acosta engages in fake news and you put up in your chyron 'JIM ACOSTA ENGAGES IN FAKE NEWS,' it would be the exact opposite of what I said and selective editing," McEnany told host Jesse Watters. "But that’s exactly what Jim Acosta did. It was false and it was wrong, which is why he corrected his tweet."

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During Thursday's White House briefing, McEnany reiterated President Trump's strong stance on wanting children to go back to school in the fall amid a fiery debate about how educators can prevent the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

"The science should not stand in the way of this, but as Dr. Scott Atlas said -- I thought this was a good quote, 'Of course, we can do it. Everyone else in the Western world, our peer nations are doing it. We are the outlier here,'" McEnany said at the time, quoting the former Stanford Medical Center neurology chief.

"The science is very clear on this. For example, you look at the JAMA pediatric study of 46 pediatric hospitals in North America that said the risk of critical illness from COVID is far less for children than the seasonal flu. The science is on our side here. We encourage localities and states to just simply follow the science. Open our schools," she added.

Acosta then tweeted about what McEnany said by suggesting she was anti-science.

"The White House Press Secretary on Trump's push to reopen schools: 'The science should not stand in the way of this,'" Acosta initially tweeted.

Watters asked McEnany if she ever confronted Acosta, prompting the press secretary to say "he’s actually quite nice off-camera."

Watters went on to ask McEnany about the criticism she has received from ABC News' correspondent Jonathan Karl, who leads the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), and his op-ed in which he accused McEnany of giving partisan monologues and "denying reality" during press briefings.

"I use my briefings to highlight issues the American people care about that they don’t ask me about. When have they asked me about police officers dying in our streets, children dying in the streets of Democrat cities -- these are Democrat cities -- two individuals that died in CHOP, the Democrat autonomous zone," McEnany said. "When have they asked about this? They don’t ask about it, and it’s why I look over the reporters, directly at the camera and speak to the American people because these issues and these lives matter."

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"And Jon Karl, if he wants to determine how he wants to run the briefing, no one is stopping him from trying to become Press Secretary in a future administration," McEnany added.

Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Sam Dorman contributed to this report.