President Trump ramped up his war of words against the media Thursday, accusing them of only valuing “their hatred & agenda” but not truth.
Mr. Trump complained about “fake books” and anonymous sources, stressing “how totally dishonest much of the Media is.”
I just cannot state strongly enough how totally dishonest much of the Media is. Truth doesn’t matter to them, they only have their hatred & agenda. This includes fake books, which come out about me all the time, always anonymous sources, and are pure fiction. Enemy of the People!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2018
The president continued to go after CNN after its Twitter tiff Wednesday night. Mr. Trump said “hatred and extreme bias” influences CNN’s reporting, and he specifically mocked *Jeff Zucker, president of CNN.
The hatred and extreme bias of me by @CNN has clouded their thinking and made them unable to function. But actually, as I have always said, this has been going on for a long time. Little Jeff Z has done a terrible job, his ratings suck, & AT&T should fire him to save credibility!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2018
Mr. Trump also roped in NBC News Thursday morning, saying it was the same as CNN. He slammed Lester Holt over the Russia coverage and network chairman Andy Lack.
What’s going on at @CNN is happening, to different degrees, at other networks - with @NBCNews being the worst. The good news is that Andy Lack(y) is about to be fired(?) for incompetence, and much worse. When Lester Holt got caught fudging my tape on Russia, they were hurt badly!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2018
Page Six reported, based on information from anonymous sources, that Mr. Lack may be forced from NBC News partially because of the sexual misconduct scandals at the network.
Reporters have pushed back against Mr. Trump’s accusation that Mr. Holt doctored his May interview with the president. They point out that NBC News posted the full interview back in May.
This early morning Twitter storm comes just hours after Mr. Trump mocked CNN for reporting that Mr. Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen planned to testify that the president knew in advance about the Trump Tower meeting.
Mr. Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis, revealed himself to be one of the anonymous sources in the CNN story and walked back the claim. CNN originally said that Mr. Davis refused to give a comment.
CNN is being torn apart from within based on their being caught in a major lie and refusing to admit the mistake. Sloppy @carlbernstein, a man who lives in the past and thinks like a degenerate fool, making up story after story, is being laughed at all over the country! Fake News
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018
CNN shot back at the president on Twitter Wednesday night and refused to back down from its original story.
“Make no mistake, Mr. President, CNN does not lie. We report the news. And we report when people in power tell lies. CNN stands by our reporting and our reporters. There may be many fools in this story but @carlbernstein is not one of them,” CNN tweeted.
* (Correction: An earlier version of the story incorrectly identified the subject of President Trump’s tweet about CNN.)
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.