August 30th, 2018

Trump Slams CNN’s Debunked Report. CNN Responds, Twitter Explodes.

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President Donald Trump slammed CNN on Wednesday over their widely criticized report from late July, saying that “sloppy” Carl Bernstein — one of the report’s authors — is a man “who lives in the past and thinks like a degenerate fool.”

Trump’s comments come in response to an anonymously-sourced report from CNN that claimed that Michael Cohen was willing to tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that then-candidate Trump knew in advance of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between several people connected to Trump and a Russian lawyer. Lanny Davis, Cohen’s lawyer, admitted this week that he was one of the sources of the report and that it was not true.

CNN is being torn apart from within based on their being caught in a major lie and refusing to admit the mistake. Sloppy @carlbernstein, a man who lives in the past and thinks like a degenerate fool, making up story after story, is being laughed at all over the country! Fake News
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018

CNN, which has been silent in the face of harsh criticism over the report, quickly responded to Trump’s tweet:

Make no mistake, Mr. President, CNN does not lie. We report the news. And we report when people in power tell lies. CNN stands by our reporting and our reporters. There may be many fools in this story but @carlbernstein is not one of them.
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) August 29, 2018

Here are just a few of the thousands of replies that CNN received in response to their tweet:

CNN stonewalled calls for clarification and competing reports from the Wash Post before answering a tweet from Trump. Because CNN depends on Trump.
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) August 29, 2018

WTF CNN? ‘There may be many fools in this story but @carlbernstein is not one of them’ https://t.co/H8Vy45pItV
— Lorrie Goldstein (@sunlorrie) August 30, 2018

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha— wait a minute? Are they really serious? How stupid do they think their viewers are? (Don’t answer.) https://t.co/rntoeVdQyc
— Roger Kimball (@rogerkimball) August 30, 2018

This is hilarious, they are making it worse than redacting the story LOL https://t.co/MB1pj0ULaQ
— Johnny Jet (@Johnnyjet_) August 30, 2018

every word you say is a lie, including “and” and “the.” https://t.co/lGNaoMlJxV
— Michael Malice (@michaelmalice) August 30, 2018

You reported in a story sourced to Lanny Davis that Lanny Davis refused to comment on the story. That was a lie. And not only did you deliberately lie to push an agenda, you have thus far refused to even acknowledge the lie, let alone apologize for it. https://t.co/LR21bPgeu6
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 30, 2018

When you’re explaining, you’re losing. https://t.co/tKMebF1S8c
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) August 30, 2018

This tweet in and of itself is a lie. CNN, and @jimsciutto specifically, claimed that Lanny Davis declined comment on the story when it turns out that he was an anonymous source for the story. https://t.co/WFDPPVVhCR
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) August 29, 2018

If CNN said it did lie, it would be the #FakeNewsParadox. https://t.co/4Ft5rs7u1U
— James Taranto (@jamestaranto) August 29, 2018

.@CNN, you just lied again by saying you don’t lie. You said Lanny Davis declined to comment when he was in fact a source. Are you kidding me with this BS. Do you have any journalistic credibility at all? I mean seriously??? You’re a joke!!! https://t.co/LKNbxY4DGL
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 30, 2018

Trump took another shot at CNN following their response:

“Lanny Davis admits being anonymous source in CNN Report.” @BretBaier Oh well, so much for CNN saying it wasn’t Lanny. No wonder their ratings are so low, it’s FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2018

The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald explained why CNN’s latest reporting scandal is significant:

For those suggesting the CNN scandal is insignificant – that CNN getting caught telling an outright lie to the world about its sourcing, and now refusing to acknowledge it, is trivial – watch how they described the importance this story when they first unveiled it: pic.twitter.com/CKp8tDCoAH
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 29, 2018