Egypt's government follows Trump's example with a Trumpian tweet attacking CNN

CNN reports on Egypt terrorist attack, earning rebuke from Egypt

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CNN)

published 27 November 2017

In between tweeting about not being Time magazine's person of the year and sending out another de facto endorsement of Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore, President Trump criticized CNN over the weekend from his Mar-a-Lago resort, taking special aim at CNN International:

Trump's attack on CNN International — on the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that could require U.S. news organizations to register as foreign agents — was widely criticized by journalists, media critics, political commentators, former military intelligence chiefs, and, in a clear subtweet, former FBI Director James Comey. It apparently inspired similar criticism of "deplorable @CNN" on Sunday from Egypt's foreign affairs ministry, delivered by its spokesman, Ahmed Abu Zeid, on Trump's favorite social medium.

It isn't clear what prompted the tweet, though CNN interviewed victims of Friday's deadly mosque attack on Sunday, and some of them were critical of Egypt's response. "No one got out of the mosque," one survivor told CNN outside a hospital. "The military could hear the gunshots from their unit and they didn't move." CNN added that it "cannot independently verify the military locations in the area, which is closed to foreign and most Egyptian journalists. At the hint of criticism, hospital volunteers ushered in an army officer to move out journalists." You can watch CNN's earlier report on the Egyptian attack below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.