President Donald Trump ripped CNN’s president, Jeff Zucker, on Thursday, taunting him for bad ratings and bad journalism.
“Little Jeff Z has done a terrible job, his ratings suck, & AT&T should fire him to save credibility!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
The president blamed the media’s “hatred” and “bias” for their dishonesty about his administration despite great economic news for the country.
“The hatred and extreme bias of me by CNN has clouded their thinking and made them unable to function,” he wrote. “But actually, as I have always said, this has been going on for a long time.”
Trump seemed particularly angry with the morning news coverage on Thursday which included a New York Times report that Ivanka Trump, his daughter, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, were forcing out White House counsel Don McGahn.
“The Fake News Media has it, purposely, so wrong!” Trump said in response to the story. “They love to portray chaos in the White House when they know that chaos doesn’t exist-just a ‘smooth running machine’ with changing parts!”
He also appeared to refer to reporter Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, which is likely to further the narrative of chaos in the White House.
“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,” he wrote. “This includes fake books, which come out about me all the time, always anonymous sources, and are pure fiction. Enemy of the People!”
Trump signaled frustration with NBC News as well, sharing rumors that Andy Lack would be fired.
“What’s going on at CNN is happening, to different degrees, at other networks – with NBC News being the worst,” he wrote. “The good news is that Andy Lack(y) is about to be fired(?) for incompetence and much worse.”
The New York Post reported that Comcast executives are quietly seeking a replacement for Lack.
Trump also lashed out at NBC anchor Lester Holt concerning an interview with him on his decision to fire James Comey in May 2017, accusing him of “fudging” the tape.
Critics seized on a line in the interview where Trump included the Russia investigation as part of the criteria for firing Comey.
“In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story; it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won,’” Trump said to Holt: