Before President Trump’s big speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, he had lunch with some select reporters and TV news anchors.
In the session, Trump seemed to say he was softening on his hard-line anti-immigration stance (if you can believe the MSM). Reports hit the internet and the airwaves shortly after, with various news agencies saying Trump would take a moderate tack, that he would was even willing to cave and endorse giving amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.
The reports sourced a “senior administration official,” but some news orgs said the info came directly from the president (former President Bill Clinton was big on this move: He’d drop back into the press cabin on Air Force One, toss out some news nuggets and then say, “Oh, just call me a ‘senior administration official’ “).
Now, though, CNN, home of what Trump calls “very fake news,” says “a senior administration official admitting that the White House intentionally misled reporters ahead of President Donald Trump‘s congressional address in order to get generate positive press coverage as part of a ‘misdirection play,’ ” Mediate reported.
But when it was time for Trump to actually give the speech, he said nothing of the sort. CNN’s Sara Murray complained the next day about “the bait and switch that the president pulled when it came to immigration yesterday. He had this meeting with the anchors, he talked about a path to legal status.”“Basically they fed [them] things that they thought these anchors would like, that they thought would give them positive press coverage for the next few hours. A senior administration official admitted that it was a misdirection play,” she reported.Host John King wondered why reporters should even trust the White House going forward. “It does make you wonder; so we’re not supposed to believe what the senior-most official at the lunch says — who then they allowed it to be the president’s name says — we’re not supposed to believe what they say?” he asked. “Maybe we shouldn’t believe what they say.”
Well, if CNN says it, it’s gotta’ be true!
