Radio reporter April Ryan says Hillary took the high road when the campaign was a street fight

In Part 2 of my interview with American Urban Radio Networks correspondent and CNN contributor April D. Ryan there's a great tease for her upcoming book.

Ryan, who was in the metro for an MPR appearance, said her next book, scheduled for release in 2018, is going to share previously withheld information from her time as a White House correspondent. "They have taken the gloves off," said Ryan, who sounds like she's ready to do the same.

Q: You must pick your words carefully when you're on TV. To whom do you pop off, giving them the unbridled April?

A: [Lengthy laugh] I keep the unbridled April to myself. I am all the April that you see. I don't know if there is really an unbridled April. People who know me know me. I'm the type of person who will talk to you, talk about the issues [but] my kids don't even know my political persuasion. There are so many different sides of me. Unbridled April is in my reporting, trying to find the truth. When I ask questions I ask everything of everyone, not just two sides but all sides.

Q: Bill Moyers has said his dad's advice when he became LBJ's press secretary was not to lie. But is lying during these briefings what a press secretary's job has become?

A: In this administration it seems like there are a lot of omissions, misspeaks, and some people call that lying.

Q: How would the country be different if Ted Cruz had been elected president?

Q: Is Hillary Clinton being a good sport about her defeat?

A: Hillary Clinton is going through the healing process. Here you have a woman who knows the ins and outs of the White House and Washington; on paper the perfect president, but the American public did something entirely different. Hillary Clinton fought an old battle in a new age, where the gloves were off — she wanted to take the high road. Street fighting is in, you know. People are scared of the Trump people and President Trump will tweet about them. Who cares about being tweeted about if right is on your side? Politics is a street fight and a lot of people in Washington are scared because they don't know how to play the game that way.

Q: You're not retirement age, but are you going to go Helen Thomas on us?

A: [Long laugh] I don't see myself retiring any time soon.

Q: Are there things you can write better in a book when you are no longer a member of the White House correspondents corps?

Q: When I watched the video of you receiving the honorary degree from your alma mater, Morgan State, I knew there was no way you would get through that without wiping tears.

A: That was a tough one.

Q: How did you hold up when the National Association of Black Journalists named you "Journalist of the Year"?

A: I was jumping and screaming and shouting. That was unbridled April. [Laughter] Morgan was different; that was my home. My mother working there for 42 years before her death. She was a coordinator in the student activities office. I used to go there after school. When your home recognizes you, it's something. I felt my mother's spirit. And to be in such company, Vice President Joe Biden said You need some love, don't you, and he hugged me. I was really emotional on that day. My kids were there. But NABJ, that touched me, too. It's been a journey, an awesome journey and I've been very thankful.

Q: You were a jazz DJ before becoming a member of the media, so who are your favorite singers?