What a week to be in the business of covering the looming presidency of Donald Trump! And it’s only Tuesday.
The unmandated victor of the 2016 election launched a new tirade of targeted tweets against the news media, as well as face to face attacks.
Tuesday morning Trump tweeted he was canceling his face to face showdown at The New York Times.
I cancelled today's meeting with the failing @nytimes when the terms and conditions of the meeting were changed at the last moment. Not nice
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016
Perhaps a new meeting will be set up with the @nytimes. In the meantime they continue to cover me inaccurately and with a nasty tone!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016
According to the Associated Press, the newspaper denied the charge and said Trump’s aides tried to change the rules. He’d been scheduled to meet Times reporters, editors and columnists and did not give details of his complaint in his tweet.
Eileen M. Murphy, the newspaper’s senior vice president for communications, said in a statement: “We did not change the ground rules at all and made no attempt to.”
The Times quoted her as blaming Trump’s aides for trying to alter the conditions, asking for a private meeting only, with nothing on the record, “which we refused to agree to.
“In the end,” she said, “we concluded with them that we would go back to the original plan of a small off-the-record session and a larger on-the-record session with reporters and columnists.” And that’s when Trump canceled and turned the tables on The Times.
But in just a few hours, the president-elect changed his mind and visited The Times for an on-the-record conversation. Times reporters live blogged and tweeted some of the more surprising statements:
Trump canceled NYT meeting after Priebus erroneously told him terms had changed, per multiple sources https://t.co/pnfk2AkDhK
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
Trump is pressed if he has definitively ruled out prosecuting Hillary Clinton. “It’s just not something that I feel very strongly about."
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) November 22, 2016
Trump on disappointing his supporters re Clinton: "I don't think they will be disappointed…" 1/2
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
"I think it would be very very divisive for the country," Trump says about prosecuting the Clintons.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
Will the President-elect condemn Richard Spencer’s alt-right gathering? “I condemn them. I disavow, and I condemn,” says Trump.
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) November 22, 2016
Trump on alt-right supporters: "It's not a group I want to energize. And if they are energized I want to look into it and find out why."
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
On Bannon:"If I thought he was a racist or alt-right or any of the things, the terms we could use, I wouldn't even think about hiring him."
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
Trump is asked about concerns from minority groups about Breitbart News’s coverage under Steve Bannon. His reply: pic.twitter.com/FBqCGwQpBr
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) November 22, 2016
'He did tell me what he thought were the biggest problems, in particular one problem," Trump says. Won't say what that was.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/801138733454073856
Quoting a source, Politico reported one of Trump’s complaints was how NBC chose unflattering photos:
The source said the meeting started with a typical Trump complaint about the “dishonest media,” and that he specifically singled out CNN and NBC News for example as “the worst.”
He also complained about photos of himself that NBC used that he found unflattering, the source said.
Trump turned to NBC News President Deborah Turness at one point, the source said, and told her the network won’t run a nice picture of him, instead choosing “this picture of me,” as he made a face with a double chin. Turness replied that they had a “very nice” picture of him on their website at the moment.
In addition to Turness, the hour-long meeting was attended by NBC’s Lester Holt and Chuck Todd, ABC’s James Goldston, George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Martha Raddatz, CBS’ Norah O’Donnell John Dickerson, Charlie Rose, Christopher Isham and King, Fox News’ Bill Shine, Jack Abernethy, Jay Wallace, Suzanne Scott, MSNBC’s Phil Griffin and CNN’s Jeff Zucker and Erin Burnett.
Although the meeting was off the record, another source provided sensational details to the New York Post:
“It was like a f–ing firing squad,” one source said of the encounter.
“Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said ‘I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed,’ ” the source said.
“The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down,” the source added.
A second source confirmed the fireworks.
“The meeting took place in a big board room and there were about 30 or 40 people, including the big news anchors from all the networks,” the other source said.
“Trump kept saying, ‘We’re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong.’ He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was [a] network of liars,” the source said.
Later that night, Trump tweeted to say it was “well-known” that he has properties across the globe. He blamed the “crooked media” for raising questions about them.
Prior to the election it was well known that I have interests in properties all over the world.Only the crooked media makes this a big deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016
He has said repeatedly that he will leave his company to his children and have no interest in it — but three of his adult children are also playing key roles in his transition, a clear conflict of interest.
Also on Monday, CNN’s Chris Cuomo noted in an interview with Trump top aide Kellyanne Conway that most of the president-elect’s tweets don’t draw attention to his plan for the country, and Conway responded: “Why do you care?”
Just another day covering the looming presidency of president-elect Donald Trump.