President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted a fake video of a wrestling match in which he takes down one of his media targets, CNN.
The tweet escalates an ongoing war of rhetoric between Trump and the cable news outlet, The Hill reports. The video appears to show Trump attacking and subduing a figure whose face is obscured by a CNN logo.
Trump tweeted the video with the hashtags #FraudNewsCNN and #FNN.
It’s not clear who produced the brief video, but it was posted from Trump’s official Twitter account.
CNN responded on Sunday: “It is a sad day when the president of the United States encourages violence against reporters,” a spokesperson said. “Clearly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied when she said the president had never done so.”
Trump “is involved in juvenile behavior far below the dignity of his office,” the statement said. “We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his.”
CNN statement responding to the president: "We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his." pic.twitter.com/Gn1YRA2DRG
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 2, 2017
Sunday’s tweet comes a day after Trump escalated an intensely personal feud with two high-profile talk show hosts, suggesting without evidence that their network is biased against him.
The president’s stream of insults has pained politicians from both parties who have appealed to him, without apparent success, to stop the 140-character bursts of character attacks and focus on running the country.
Saturday evening, Trump was at it again.
Trump again lashed out at Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, co-hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” on Twitter earlier Saturday. From his New Jersey golf club, he said: “Crazy Joe Scarborough and dumb as a rock Mika are not bad people, but their low rated show is dominated by their NBC bosses.”
Crazy Joe Scarborough and dumb as a rock Mika are not bad people, but their low rated show is dominated by their NBC bosses. Too bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017
Trump also said that Greta Van Susteren lost her nightly show on MSNBC because she “refused to go along w/ ‘Trump hate!’” MSNBC confirmed this week that Van Susteren, previously a longtime anchor at Fox News, was being replaced.
Word is that @Greta Van Susteren was let go by her out of control bosses at @NBC & @Comcast because she refused to go along w/ 'Trump hate!'
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017
NBC declined to comment on all the tweets Saturday from the president. “Morning Joe” just finished the highest-rated quarter in the show’s history. MSNBC never officially gave a reason for replacing Van Susteren’s show; it did, however, lag in the ratings compared with the network’s other shows.
Later in the day, Trump renewed his screed against the media.
“The FAKE & FRAUDULENT NEWS MEDIA is working hard to convince Republicans and others I should not use social media - but remember, I won the 2016 election with interviews, speeches and social media. I had to beat #FakeNews, and did. We will continue to WIN!” Trump said on Twitter.
The FAKE & FRAUDULENT NEWS MEDIA is working hard to convince Republicans and others I should not use social media - but remember, I won....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017
And the president made it known that he has no intention of easing up on Twitter.
“My use of social media is not Presidential - it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL. Make America Great Again!” he tweeted on Saturday.
My use of social media is not Presidential - it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL. Make America Great Again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Adam Darby: 816-234-4318, @adarby87
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