President Trump took a shot at CNN during a listening session with his leading black supporters on Wednesday, calling the network “hostile” and accusing it of propagating “fake news.”
“Paris has done an amazing job in a very hostile CNN community,” Trump said of CNN contributor Paris Dennard, who attended the meeting in the Roosevelt Room.
“He’s all by himself,” Trump added. “But I don’t watch CNN so I don’t get to see you as much. I don’t like watching fake news.”
The president’s jab came hours after the administration confirmed to Politico that it has temporarily barred officials from appearing on CNN, and that instead Trump is sending “surrogates to places where we think it makes sense to promote our agenda.” Trump had clashed with CNN’s Jim Acosta at a press conference last month, during which he refused to answer Acosta’s question and told him “you are fake news.”
The meeting on Wednesday included Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, incoming Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and several senior White House aides, in addition to a dozen or so participants.
