Margaret Talev, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, slammed President Trump on Friday after he lashed out at the media during his visit to the United Kingdom this week.
“In response to the President lashing out at NBC, CNN and The Sun: Asking smart, tough questions, whether in a presidential press conference or interview, is central to the role a free press plays in a healthy republic,” Talev said in a statement.
{mosads}“Given that the president took a question from a CNN reporter in his NATO news conference just a day earlier, maybe he was letting off steam today rather than expressing an official stance toward a news organization’s ability to report, but saying a news organization isn’t real doesn’t change the facts and won’t stop us from doing our jobs,” Talev continued. “We appreciate The Sun for posting the entire audio of their interview so that everyone can hear the president’s remarks for themselves.”
Talev’s statement comes just hours after the president dismissed CNN during an international press conference, which came the day after he gave a bombshell interview to The Sun that included striking criticism of British Prime Minister Theresa May.
CNN correspondent Jim Acosta attempted to ask Trump a question during his joint press conference with May on Friday morning.
“Since you attacked CNN can I ask you a question?” Acosta said, referencing an earlier barb from the president.
“CNN is fake news. I don’t take questions from CNN,” Trump responded.
“Let’s go to a real network,” the president added before answering a question from John Roberts of Fox News.
The president was also unhappy with an NBC reporter after he was asked if his criticisms of U.S. allies helps Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“That’s such dishonest reporting,” Trump said in response. “Of course it happens to be NBC, which is possibly worse than CNN.”
Trump also claimed his remarks during an explosive interview with the British tabloid The Sun on Thursday were not quoted in full and that the tabloid did not include the “tremendous things” he said about May.
“It’s called fake news,” Trump said of the interview, despite the publication releasing the complete audio recording of his criticism, backing up its account of the interview.