One day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held a news conference to deny reports he had threatened to resign, President Donald Trump is launching another offensive on news outlets.
In an early morning tweet Thursday, Trump called for the Senate Intel Committee to investigate “Fake News Networks.”
Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2017
Rex Tillerson never threatened to resign. This is Fake News put out by @NBCNews. Low news and reporting standards. No verification from me.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2017
Beyond NBC’s report that Tillerson had threatened to quit, the network also claimed he had called Trump “a f*****g moron.” Tillerson didn’t explicitly address the name calling accusation in his address.
Trump, who had a friendly relationship with NBC when he was hosting The Apprentice on that network, has long had an adversarial relationship with the U.S. media, once calling outlets “an enemy.”
He has also had a high profile feud with MSNBC, launching personal attacks on Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, anchors of the network’s Morning Joe program.
I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017
…to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017
Despite the criticism towards news outlets, The New York Times and the Washington Post have reported huge subscriptions boosts since Trump took office.