As NewsBusters has often reported, people in President Donald Trump’s administration are not fond of the “Fake News” produced by CNN. Judging from a statement made by CNN Tonight host Don Lemon on Wednesday's show, that feeling is mutual and even extends to the Fox News Channel.
Lemon asserted that FNC, which he called “Trump TV or state-run TV” and is “not even reporting” about the White House resignation of Hope Hicks, but Chief White House correspondent John Roberts responded the following day with a post on Twitter in which he noted in all capital letters that the cable TV channel had reported on it multiple times.
After an interview with CNN Political Analyst and Devil's Bargain author Joshua Green regarding Hicks's departure, Lemon took delight in hammering the rival cable channel:
I was sitting in my office and was watching all the news channels, right -- Trump TV or state-run TV, they’re not even reporting this.
So Trump supporters, they don’t even know about these stories. It doesn’t even register; that’s the amazing thing.
“We cover all of these things every day,” he continued. “The White House [is] imploding behind him, and he’s standing there going: ‘nothing to see here.'”
“His supporters probably don’t even realize the extent of it,” Lemon added.
Despite having been caught peddling legitimately fake news, Lemon attempted to weasel his way out of the matter by tweeting: "FYI. Last night, in an attempt to make a broader point about Fox News prime time, I misspoke. I should have been more specific."
During the following morning, Roberts struck back in all-caps:
WE REPORTED IT MULTIPLE TIMES. I REPORTED IT ON NEIL CAVUTO’S SHOW -- AND ON THE FIVE. AND AGAIN AT THE TOP OF THE 6PM SHOW. AND WE DID IT AT THE TOP OF THE 7PM SHOW.
CLEARLY SOMEONE IS NOT WATCHING FOX BUT SAYING THEY ARE.
According to Mediaite's Aidan McLaughlin: “For the record, Roberts first covered news of the Hicks resignation at 4:40 p.m. EST, some ten minutes after New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman first broke the news.
When Wednesday’s edition of Special Report with Bret Baier kicked in at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, the lead story dealt with Hicks’ resignation, when Roberts stated:
I think [President Trump] is losing “hope” in the form of a person, not necessarily in the form of an idea.
I would say that other than the president’s immediate family -- Melania, Ivanka and Jared Kushner -- Hope is probably the person who’s been closest to him, has been literally by his side for the past three years working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Roberts then noted that Hicks “was embroiled in controversy not of her own making recently when the man that she was dating -- Bob Porter -- succumbed to allegations of domestic abuse and was told to leave the White House.”
“She testified yesterday for some 10 hours before the House Intelligence Committee about what she knew about potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia,” he continued.
“In that testimony, she admitted to at times telling quote white lies on behalf of the president,” though she did say under questioning that none of those things had any kind of bearing on the Russia investigation, at least not” substantially.
Roberts then continued on with the rest of the Hicks segment.
This isn’t the first time Lemon has attacked Trump and conservative Republicans. In mid-January, the CNN anchor rehashed his “s***hole” comment while asserting “those comments are, frankly, disgusting.”
After the shooting on Valentine's Day that killed 14 people in Florida, Lemon hammered the idea of training volunteer teachers how to handle a gun, referring to the concept as “nonsensical.”
