White House official says administration will keep saying 'fake news' until the media lays off the president
The White House will continue to call media reports "fake news" until reporters stop attacking "a duly elected president," an administration official has said.
"There is a monumental desire on behalf of the majority of the media ... to attack a duly elected president in the second week of his term," Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, told conservative radio host Michael Medved on Monday. "That's how unhealthy the situation is and until the media understands how wrong that attitude is, and how it hurts their credibility, we are going to continue to say, 'fake news.' I'm sorry, Michael. That's the reality."
Trump's administration has repeatedly deflected criticism with the phrase "fake news," with President Trump on Monday declaring on Twitter that "any negative polls are fake news" and telling CNN reporter Jim Acosta, "You are fake news," when Acosta repeatedly asked him to answer a question at a press conference last month.
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When a caller challenged Gorka, saying "not everything is fake news," Gorka replied: "You know, I would beg to differ. Every single organ that generates these kinds of stories comes from the same clique of media organs that predicted that Hillary [Clinton] would win and that Brexit wouldn't occur. I know what fake news is. And it's coming from those organizations. It's time that you yourself understood that as well."
Listen below, via CNN. Jeva Lange
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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