A Senate Democrat urged President Trump on Monday to get his news from more reliable sources than early morning cable TV shows.
Sen. Chris Coons said on MSNBC that Trump appears to be too motivated by what he’s watching on TV in the morning instead of the information he has access to as commander in chief. Coons said Trump needs to listen more to his advisers than to pundits.
“There does seem to be a disturbing pattern where his 6 a.m. tweets … are based solely on cable news sources, and not well-sourced cable news reporting,” Coons said.
He added, “It’s important that he focus on reliable sources of information, not those that feed into a more conspiratorial (theme).”
Trump has been in hot water for weeks after tweeting that President Obama had his phones at Trump Tower tapped, which appeared to be based on thinly-sourced reports in conservative media. Last week, press secretary Sean Spicer mentioned a Fox News report that the British had spied on Trump at President Obama’s request during a press briefing, and prompted British officials to warn against repeating that claim again in public.
On Friday, Trump repeated the claim that he had been spied on by Obama in front of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and again said he was citing press reports. Coons called that a dumbfounding moment.
“There are forehead scratching moments and forehead slapping moments with this president,” he said.
