President Trump’s re-election campaign accused CNN of censoring a campaign ad for the second time since May, furthering the president’s ongoing feud with the network.
In an email to supporters, Trump’s re-election committee said CNN blocked a paid media placement for the ad, “censoring the message to the American people that ‘President Trump’s plan is working.'”
“One of the many reasons that so many millions of Americans support President Trump is because of their complete mistrust of the mainstream news media, and the president’s refusal to allow their biased filter to interfere with his messages,” Michael Glassner, executive director of Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., said in a message to supporters.
“Today, CNN provided further proof that the network earns this mistrust every day by censoring President Trump’s message to the American people by blocking our paid campaign ad. Clearly, the only viewpoint CNN allows on air is CNN’s,” Glassner continued.
The ad, published Sunday, accuses Democrats of obstructing the president’s agenda and the media of attacking Trump.
In a statement responding to the Trump re-election campaign, CNN said it would air the ad if the campaign deleted images of reporters and anchors from it.
“CNN would accept the ad if the images of reporters and anchors are removed. Anchors and reporters don’t have ‘enemies,’ as the ad states, but they do hold those in power accountable across the political spectrum and aggressively challenge false and misleading statements and investigate wrong-doing,” a CNN spokesperson said.
The re-election campaign’s criticism of CNN comes the same day the president issued his own attack on the network.
On Tuesday morning, Trump retweeted an image of a CNN reporter being hit by a train.
“Nothing can stop the #TrumpTrain,” the initial tweet from the Twitter user said.
The image read, “Fake news can’t stop the Trump Train.”
The president later deleted the tweet.
Trump accused CNN’s Jim Acosta of spreading “fake news” during an event at the White House on Monday after Acosta asked the president why he wasn’t holding an official press conference.
“I like real news, not fake news” Trump told Acosta. “You’re fake news.”
