REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions during a news conference at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 16, 2017.
- President Donald Trump told veteran television reporter Lesley Stahl that he attacks the press to "demean" and "discredit" reporters so that the public won't believe "negative stories" about him.
- Stahl said Trump made the remark during a meeting the two had at Trump Tower before her sit-down interview with the then-president-elect and his family in November 2016.
President Donald Trump told veteran television reporter Lesley Stahl that he attacks the press to "demean" and "discredit" reporters so that the public won't believe "negative stories" about him.
Stahl said Trump made the remark during a meeting the two had at Trump Tower in the lead-up to her sit-down interview with the then-president-elect and his family in November 2016.
"At one point, he started to attack the press," Stahl told the audience at a journalism awards event at the Harvard Club in Manhattan on Monday evening. "There were no cameras in there."
"I said, 'You know, this is getting tired. Why are you doing it over and over? It's boring and it's time to end that. You know, you've won ... why do you keep hammering at this?'" Stahl went on. "And he said: 'You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.'"
Stahl revealed Trump's comment when PBS News Hour host Judy Woodruff, who spoke at the event with Stahl, asked her what it was like to conduct the first sit-down interview with Trump after the election.