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Trump slams report on his daily TV-watching routine as ‘fake news’
This was the US president’s first tweet after the explosion in New York.
US President Donald Trump on Monday disputed a news report that he watches hours of cable news programming as part of his daily routine, calling it a fake news.
The New York Times on Saturday reported that the president consumes “long spells of cable news,” including the big three cable news networks — CNN, MSNBC and Fox News — to catch up on news.
Trump, the NYT reported, often “flips to CNN for news, moves to ‘Fox & Friends’ for comfort and messaging ideas, and sometimes watches MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ because, friends suspect, it fires him up for the day.” The president “spends at least four hours a day, and sometimes as much as twice that, in front of a television,” according to the report.
“Another false story, this time in the Failing The New York Times that I watch 4-8 hours of television a day - Wrong!” Trump said this in a tweet.
During his Asia trip, Trump had told reporters that he rarely watched television as he spend most of his time reading documents.
The president, who has been sharply critical of CNN and other news outlets throughout his political career, also disputed that he “hate-watches” CNN anchor Don Lemon’s show to “get worked up,” as the Times reported, taking a shot at the late-night newscaster.
“I never watch Don Lemon, who I once called the ‘dumbest man on television!’ Bad Reporting,” he tweeted.
However, the Democratic party criticised him for tweeting on this issue in the aftermath of an explosion in New York City.
“This is Trump’s first tweet after an explosion in NY...,” tweeted Sabrina Singh, the deputy communications director of the Democratic National Committee.