Trump: CNN made ‘vicious and purposeful mistake’
President Trump on Saturday accused CNN of making a “vicious and intentional mistake” when the network was forced to correct an erroneous news report related to the Trump/Russia probe.
In an early morning tweet, Trump called on the news network to fire “those responsible,” and commented that an ABC reporter who was suspended for a separate erroneous report should be fired as well.
“Fake News CNN made a vicious and purposeful mistake yesterday. They were caught red handed, just like lonely Brian Ross at ABC News (who should be immediately fired for his “mistake”),” Trump wrote. “Watch to see if @CNN fires those responsible, or was it just gross incompetence?”
In a second tweet, the president suggested CNN change their slogan after the report to “the least trusted name in news.”
“CNN’S slogan is CNN, THE MOST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS. Everyone knows this is not true, that this could, in fact, be a fraud on the American Public. There are many outlets that are far more trusted than Fake News CNN. Their slogan should be CNN, THE LEAST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS!” the president tweeted.
Fake News CNN made a vicious and purposeful mistake yesterday. They were caught red handed, just like lonely Brian Ross at ABC News (who should be immediately fired for his “mistake”). Watch to see if @CNN fires those responsible, or was it just gross incompetence?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2017
CNN’S slogan is CNN, THE MOST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS. Everyone knows this is not true, that this could, in fact, be a fraud on the American Public. There are many outlets that are far more trusted than Fake News CNN. Their slogan should be CNN, THE LEAST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2017
The original CNN report posted Friday inaccurately claimed that Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., received a “heads-up” email on Sept. 4 regarding a cache of hacked documents containing Democratic information that WikiLeaks planned to release to the public. Other media outlets correctly reported that Trump Jr. and other campaign officials received the email pointing them to the WikiLeaks documents on Sept. 14, after the documents had already been made public. CNN later corrected its report.
A CNN spokesperson said there will not be disciplinary action against the reporter involved, because the reporter used multiple verified sources, following CNN’s editorial process. CNN said it does not believe there was malicious intent involved.
In the ABC News case, ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross was suspended for four weeks after he reported on-air that former national security adviser Michael Flynn was prepared to testify that Trump directed him during the campaign to make contact with Russian officials. ABC later issued a correction, saying Trump made the request after the election and before he took office.
Trump’s tweets on Saturday come hours after he blasted the news network at a rally, in which he also supported controversial GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore in Alabama.
“[CNN] should have been apologizing for the last two years,” he said during a rally in Pensacola, Fla.
[The Hill]