"With all due, uh, I’m sorry Emily," Spicer replied. "You act as though everything began and ended with that. You’re taking no accountability for the many false narratives and false stories that the media perpetrated."

The first reviews of The Briefing have panned the book, with the Washington Post's Erik Wemple writing, "It is a bumbling effort at gaslighting Americans into doubting what they have seen with their own eyes."

On Monday, during the BBC interview, Maitlis didn't let up, calling out Spicer for his tenure as the president's spokesperson.

"I guess my question is, you were his press secretary and I know from what I have read that you care about the freedoms and the institutions and the democracy on which your country was built," she said.

"This is the office of president spouting lies or half-truths or knocking down real truths, and you were his agent for those months."

