CNN early Sunday rejected President Trump’s accusation that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was cut off during an interview for using the term “fake news” to describe the network.
“@realDonaldTrump False. Transcript from @ErinBurnett intvu w @SenSanders. He was not cut off. Those are the facts,” CNN’s public relations team tweeted.
Sanders was asked during an interview Friday night to respond to a clip of the president saying he hadn’t seen reports that his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had discussed sanctions with Russia before Trump’s inauguration.
{mosads}”I don’t know about that. I haven’t seen it. What report is that?” Trump asked.
Sanders was asked if it was a “problem” that the president said he hadn’t seen any of those reports.
“Well, I don’t know. Maybe he was watching CNN fake news. What do you think?” he asked.
“It was a joke,” Sanders added, before the feed cut out.
Sanders returned after a break to finish the interview.
CNN’s Jake Tapper also pushed back on the president’s Sunday-morning tweet.
“From Michael Briggs, Senator Sanders’ Communications Director: ‘The Senator was clearly joking,'” Tapper tweeted.
“Untrue,” CNN’s Brian Stelter added.