President Donald Trump concluded a White House Q&A with reporters on Wednesday by trashing one of his favorite media piñatas, CNN, as “basically an arm of the Democratic Party.”
The president slammed the channel after senior correspondent Kristen Holmes asked if Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had said why he has not released classified footage of a September 2 strike on a suspected drug boat — a strike that has been questioned by many Democrats, pundits, and some Republicans in recent weeks.
“No, he hasn’t told me. I thought that issue was dead,” Trump said. “I’m surprised you bring it up — you must be CNN.”
Holmes, as Trump was finishing up, said lawmakers would like to know more about the attack.
“You must be CNN. Are you CNN? Trump continued.
“Yes, I’m with CNN,” Holmes told him.
“Oh gee, I’m shocked to find that out,” Trump said sarcastically, drawing a few chuckles from the business leaders who were in the room.
Trump said he did not know which lawmakers Holmes was referring to; when she told him Democratic lawmakers, Trump segued to bashing CNN as a liberal propaganda outfit.
“You mean the people that you work for, the Democrats? You know you work for the Democrats, don’t know? You’re basically an arm of the Democratic Party.”
The president then thanked everyone and stood up.
His parting shot at CNN came shortly after he declared that “any deal” for Warner Bros. Discovery should include selling off CNN.
Trump said he is “not involved” in the bidding war for WBD, as Paramount Skydance and Netflix are currently vying to buy the media giant. He then said he will “probably” be involved at some point.
He continued:
You have some good companies bidding on it. I think the people that have run CNN for the last long period of time are a disgrace. I think it’s imperative that CNN be sold. Because you certainly wouldn’t want to put people-, just leave those people with some money, good money at CNN so that, you know, they could spend even more money spreading poison. Because it’s lies, it’s a disgrace.
So I wouldn’t wanna see the same company end up with CNN, the same company with money. Because right now they don’t have too much money. But they have value, I guess, based on the bids — so they’ve got value.
Watch him bash CNN, via CNN above.
