“The reason the president is frustrated is because there’s a perpetuation of false narratives…”
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White House press secretary Sean Spicer abruptly ended his first press briefing since May 15 on Tuesday after explaining that President Donald Trump is “rightly concerned” by media reports based on anonymous sources.
“The reason the president is frustrated is because there’s a perpetuation of false narratives — a use of unnamed sources over and over again — about things that are happening that don’t ultimately happen, and I think that is troubling,” Spicer said.
To prove his point, Spicer cited a tweet from a BBC News reporter that falsely claimed Trump did not have a listening device as Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni delivered remarks last week.
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“Friday, the president was having a great discussion at the G7, and someone from the BBC — and ultimately an incoming reporter for The New York Times — said he was being rude by disrespecting the Italian prime minister,” Spicer said. “That’s the kind of thing [they] push out and perpetuate … It’s true.”
“That’s just fake. That is a fake,” Spicer said.
Pres. Trump “is frustrated because there’s a perpetuation of false narratives, a use of unnamed sources,” Spicer on alleged fake news pic.twitter.com/VU9lgz9DPy
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 30, 2017
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“The president gets frustrated when he sees a fake report about things that aren’t based in fact. When you see instances like that, that is frustrating,” Spicer added.
The press secretary’s comments against “fake reporting” came in response to questions regarding the latest media reports accusing the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, of trying to set up a secret communications channel with Russia in December during the presidential transition.
Trump cried foul on the various Kushner reports, which were all based on the accounts of unidentified government officials.
“Whenever you see the words ‘sources say’ in the fake news media, and they don’t mention names … it is very possible that those sources don’t exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!” the president wrote in a pair of tweets.
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The president on Tuesday retweeted a report by Fox News that exonerated Kushner.
Jared Kushner didn’t suggest Russian communications channel in meeting, source says https://t.co/nF6bM1FEt1
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) May 30, 2017
However, Trump’s detractors were quick to note that the article he retweeted was based on the account of an anonymous source.
@foxandfriends @realDonaldTrump Who’s your source?
— Scott Monty (@ScottMonty) May 30, 2017
@foxandfriends @realDonaldTrump Oooh, now you like unnamed sources again. Good to know. I’ll move your flip flop indicator back over to the “like” column.
— John Kinnear (@askdadblog) May 30, 2017
The president’s retweet of the anonymously-sourced Fox News report came just one hour prior to Spicer’s condemnation of the media’s reliance on unnamed sources.
source http://capitalisthq.com/spicer-trump-is-justified-in-frustration-with-anonymously-sourced-media-reports/
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