Trump falsely calls his interview with The Sun fake news. There's a recording. You can listen to it.

(Image credit: Screenshot/ABC News)

published 13 July 2018

President Trump denied criticizing British Prime Minister Theresa May when taking questions from the press Friday, despite there being easily accessible audio of his scathing interview with British tabloid The Sun. "I didn't criticize the prime minister," Trump falsely claimed. "I have a lot of respect for the prime minister. And unfortunately there was a story that was done, which was generally fine, but it didn't put in what I said about the prime minister, and I said tremendous things."

Trump then appeared to contradict himself by saying "fortunately we tend to record stories now, so we have it for your enjoyment," adding "it's called fake news," although it isn't clear how an audio recording of his interview could be fake news.

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Later in the press conference, Trump slammed reporter Kristen Welker after a question about Russia. "Of course that's coming from NBC, which is possibly worse than CNN," he said, adding that her question was "dishonest reporting." In denying a query from CNN anchor Jim Acosta, Trump said that "CNN is fake news. I don't take questions from CNN," and then called on "John Roberts of Fox. Let's go to a real network."

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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.