Trump goes wild against 'Enemy of the People' media after CNN story comes under fire
- President Donald Trump raged against specific figures in the US media landscape on Thursday with tweets that attacked the press as the "Enemy of the People" after a CNN story came under fire.
- Trump called for the heads of both CNN and NBC to be fired over what he sees as poor performance and bias.
- Trump has been especially critical of CNN, which ran a story citing anonymous sources as saying Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime lawyer, had incriminating information on the president.
- Lanny Davis, Cohen's lawyer, later said he was the anonymous source, despite CNN saying in the story that Davis did not comment.
- CNN stands by the story.
President Donald Trump raged against specific figures in the US media landscape on Thursday with tweets that attacked the press as the "Enemy of the People" after a CNN story came under fire.
Trump called for the heads of both CNN and NBC to be fired over poor performance and bias.
"The hatred and extreme bias of me by @CNN has clouded their thinking and made them unable to function," Trump tweeted.
"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." Trump continued.
Trump's anti-media tirade comes after a pronounced scrape with CNN over a story in which it cited anonymous sources as saying the longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen had incriminating evidence against Trump.
Lanny Davis, Cohen's lawyer, publicly contradicted the story by saying he was CNN's source when CNN's story said specifically that Davis had not commented.
But CNN stands behind the story, and two of its employees told Business Insider senior politics reporter Allan Smith the network's level of commitment to its story is "100%."
On Wednesday, Trump called Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein, who co-wrote the piece, "sloppy" and a "degenerate fool" in response. Bernstein fired back on Twitter that he had spent his "life as a journalist bringing the truth to light, through administrations of both parties."
Trump ended his Twitter attacks Thursday morning with a broadside against the media in general.
"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!" Trump tweeted.