Trump Jr. Says CNN Covering For ‘Leftist Hack’ Carl Bernstein On Trump Tower Story

Donald Trump Jr. says CNN is covering for “leftist hack” Carl Bernstein, a former Washington Post reporter, over a Trump Tower story.

The July 27 story, written by Bernstein of Watergate fame, CNN staffer Jim Sciutto, a former official in the Barack Obama administration, and Marshall Cohen, claimed President Trump knew about a meeting in Trump Tower in which a Russian woman said she would deliver negative campaign research on Hillary Clinton.

“Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, claims that then-candidate Trump knew in advance about the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower in which Russians were expected to offer his campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton, sources with knowledge tell CNN. Cohen is willing to make that assertion to special counsel Robert Mueller, the sources said,” said the story.

But now it turns out that story was hooey.

Lanny Davis, a longtime Clinton confidante and now an attorney for Cohen, “is backing away from confident assertions he made that Cohen has information to share with investigators that shows Trump knew in 2016 of Russian efforts to undermine Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton,” The Washington Post reported.

Davis said in an interview this weekend that he “is no longer certain about claims he made to reporters on background and on the record in recent weeks about what Cohen knows about Trump’s awareness of the Russian efforts,” said the story.

Donald Trump Jr. found the whole thing odd.

“Comical to watch @CNN covering for leftist hack @carlbernstein,” the president’s son tweeted. “He & Obama staffer @jimsciutto obviously got story wrong. CNN ‘stands by’ it anyway, defending literal fake news. 3 ‘reporters’ were fired for false CNN hit on [former White House communications director Anthony] Scaramucci & this is FAR worse!”

The president also piled on.

“Michael Cohen’s attorney clarified the record, saying his client does not know if President Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting (out of which came nothing!). The answer is that I did NOT know about the meeting. Just another phony story by the Fake News Media!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, CNN is standing by the story.

“Re: CNN’s July 27 story about Cohen claiming that Trump knew in advance about the Trump Tower meeting: ‘We stand by our story, and are confident in our reporting of it,'” CNN’s Brian Stelter wrote on Twitter.