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At the press briefing, Carney was asked by Gabe Finger, an intern at The Daily Caller, about providing security to George Zimmerman and his family. The question came a few days after Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter of Trayvon Martin.



"Because of the death threats being received by George Zimmerman and his parents, is the president going to take any action for their security, or are they on their own?" Finger asked.



"Well, I think I would refer you to Florida authorities," Carney said. "I'm not aware of that story. But the President has called for echoing the statements of Trayvon Martin's family for a calm reflection in the wake of the verdict. And that continues to be his position. He certainly would oppose any violence of any kind."



"So they're on their own?" Finger said.



"You can editorialize all you want, and I have no doubt that you will, but that is a ridiculous statement," Carney said.



Daily Caller Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson ripped the White House press corps in a statement defending the intern.



“Talk about missing the point,” he wrote. “The real question is, why did it take a 16-year-old intern to raise an obvious and important question that the White House press corps should have asked days ago? We don’t care how old Gabe Finger is. It doesn’t matter to us what his credentials are. All we care about is how well he does his job. Today he did it a lot better than most White House reporters.”



Carlson then quoted Whitney Houston’s song “Greatest Love of All,” in which the deceased pop star sang that “children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.”





