Administration splits

Trump administration splits over journalists as ‘enemy of the people’

By REBECCA MORIN

President Donald Trump and his top spokeswoman on Thursday defended an increasingly combative relationship with the press as the White House took heat over the president’s claims that journalists are “the enemy of the people.”

“They asked my daughter Ivanka whether or not the media is the enemy of the people,” Trump tweeted on Thursday afternoon. “She correctly said no. It is the FAKE NEWS, which is a large percentage of the media, that is the enemy of the people!” The president did not clarify which outlets he considered “fake news.”

Trump tweeted not long after taking office that the “FAKE NEWS media” — which he said referred to a host of mainstream outlets, including The New York Times, NBC, ABC and CNN — were “the enemy of the American People!” But his older daughter, Ivanka Trump, said Thursday she didn’t agree.

“I’ve certainly received my fair share of reporting on me personally that I know not to be fully accurate,” she said during an interview with Axios on Thursday morning. “So I’ve had some sensitivity around why people have concerns and gripe, especially when they feel targeted.” But she said she did not “not feel like the media is the enemy of the people.”

After those remarks got attention, Trump tried to add nuance, saying his initial tweet referred to “FAKE NEWS, which is a large percentage of the media,” not all news outlets.

But the back-and-forth only highlighted how tension has grown between the White House and journalists over the last few weeks as he has ramped up his anti-media rhetoric and singled out specific outlets, particularly CNN.

Last week, the White House denied CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins access to a news conference with Trump that was open to other journalists. The network said White House officials told her she wasn’t allowed at the event because she posed “inappropriate” questions in the Oval Office as Trump was meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later said that Collins refused to leave the Oval Office despite being asked several times to do so.

The president last month also skipped over CNN correspondent Jim Acosta during a news conference with Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain.

On Tuesday, Acosta was verbally accosted at a Trump rally in Florida, where attendees chanted “CNN sucks” during a live shot. The following day, reporters at the White House briefing raised the episode and asked Sanders whether the president believed in freedom of the press.

“While we certainly support freedom of the press, we also support freedom of speech,” she replied.

Before another Trump rally on Thursday in Pennsylvania, NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell tweeted a photo of two rally attendees holding a sign with the words “CNN sucks.”

“Unfortunate. Two guys leading chants against media 2 and half hours before rally,” O’Donnell wrote on Twitter. “Campaign requires media be ‘escorted’ to work area. Most of us have been through more security background screening than attendees.”

During the rally itself, Trump returned to his attacks on the news media, appearing to call the reporters covering the event in Wilkes-Barre “horrible, horrendous people.” The president spent the first roughly 40 minutes of his speech complaining about the press, returning to the topic repeatedly.

His grievances included coverage of everything from when Pennsylvania was called by networks during the 2016 presidential election to stories about his summits with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, and President Vladimir Putin of Russia. He even quibbled with whether or not he was late for tea with Queen Elizabeth II.

“And honestly, folks, it was such a beautiful, beautiful visit and afternoon, but they can make anything bad because they are the fake, fake, disgusting news,” the president said of news coverage of his meeting with the queen.

“They only make up stories,” Trump said of the media, before finally returning to other red-meat issues, like immigration.

Some journalists at the rally posted snapshots of Trump supporters with signs attacking CNN — and, as on Tuesday, a “CNN sucks” chant broke out — though reporters covering the event did not post shots or videos of the same type of vitriol that seemed to characterize the Tampa event.

Trump was ostensibly in Wilkes-Barre to boost the chances of Republican Rep. Lou Barletta, but his speech was dominated by such complaints about unfair coverage.

Earlier on Thursday, during the White House press briefing, CNN’s Acosta asked Sanders to denounce the claim that journalists are the enemy of the people.

Sanders refused, however, and instead listed times that she and others, including members of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, were “personally attacked” by the media.

“Repeatedly, repeatedly the media resorts to personal attacks without any content other to incite anger,” Sanders told Acosta. “The media has attacked me, personally, on a number of occasions, including your own network, said I should be harassed as a life sentence, said I should be choked.”

She also went on to mention how comedian Michelle Wolf roasted the press secretary at the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Wolf received backlash for her routine from the White House and by a number of journalists.

“You brought up a comedian to attack my appearance and called me a traitor to my own gender,” she said of the dinner. “In fact, as far as I know, I’m the first press secretary in the history of the United States that’s required Secret Service protection.”

Sanders said that while Trump and his administration play a role in the discourse in the U.S., the media has a “role to play for the discourse in this country, as well.”

When pressed about her not denouncing Trump’s accusation, Sanders said that she had already answered.

“I’ve addressed this question. I’ve addressed my personal feelings,” she said. “I’m here to speak on behalf of the president. He’s made statements clear.”