President donald Trump from the East Room of The White House continues chatting with Jim Acosta of CNN over what he believes is their fake reporting and more. (Listen in)
Here is the transcript:
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, go ahead.
Q Real news, Mr. President. Real news.
THE PRESIDENT: And you're not related to our new --
Q I am not related, sir, no. (Laughter.) I do like the sound of Secretary Acosta, I must say.
THE PRESIDENT: I looked -- you know, I looked at that name. I said, wait a minute, is there any relation there? Alex Acosta.
Q I’m sure you checked that out, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: No, I checked it. I said -- they said, no, sir. I said, do me a favor, go back and check the family tree.
Q But aren’t you concerned, sir, that you are undermining the people's faith in the First Amendment freedom of the press, the press in this country when you call stories you don't like “fake news”? Why not just say it’s a story I don't like?
THE PRESIDENT: I do that.
Q When you call it fake news, you're undermining confidence --
THE PRESIDENT: No, I do that. No, no, I do that.
Q -- in our news media.
THE PRESIDENT: Here’s the thing.
Q Isn’t that important?
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, I understand -- and you're right about that except this. See, I know when I should get good and when I should get bad. And sometimes I’ll say, wow, that's going to be a great story, and I’ll get killed. I know what’s good and bad. I’d be a pretty good reporter -- not as good as you. But I know what’s good. I know what’s bad.
And when they change it and make it really bad -- something that should be positive. Sometimes something that should be very positive, they’ll make okay. They’ll even make it negative. So I understand it because I’m there. I know what was said. I know who is saying it. I’m there. So it’s very important to me.
Look, I want to see an honest press. When I started off today by saying that it’s so important to the public to get an honest press. The press -- the public doesn't believe you people anymore. Now, maybe I had something to do with that, I don't know. But they don't believe you.
If you were straight and really told it like it is, as Howard Cosell used to say, right? Of course, he had some questions also. But if you were straight, I would be your biggest booster, I would be your biggest fan in the world -- including bad stories about me. But if you go -- as an example, you're CNN -- I mean, it’s story after story after story is bad. I won. I won. And the other thing: Chaos. There’s zero chaos. We are running -- this is a fine-tuned machine. And Reince happens to be doing a good job. But half of his job is putting out lies by the press.
I said to him yesterday, this whole Russia scam that you guys are building so that you don't talk about the real subject, which is illegal leaks. But I watched him yesterday working so hard to try and get that story proper. And I’m saying, here’s my Chief of Staff, a really good guy, did a phenomenal job at RNC. I mean, we won the election, right? We won the presidency. We got some senators. We got some -- all over the country, you take a look, he’s done a great job.
And I said to myself, you know -- and I said to somebody that was in the room -- I said, you take a look at Reince, he’s working so hard just putting out fires that are fake fires. They're fake. They're not true. And isn't that a shame, because he'd rather be working on health care. He'd rather be working on tax reform, Jim. I mean that. I would be your biggest fan in the world if you treated me right. I sort of understand there's a certain bias, maybe by Jeff or somebody -- for whatever reason. And I understand that. But you've got to be at least a little bit fair. And that's why the public sees it -- they see it. They see it's not fair. You take a look at some of your shows and you see the bias and the hatred. And the public is smart. They understand it. WhiteHouse.gov
Here is the transcript:
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, go ahead.
Q Real news, Mr. President. Real news.
THE PRESIDENT: And you're not related to our new --
Q I am not related, sir, no. (Laughter.) I do like the sound of Secretary Acosta, I must say.
THE PRESIDENT: I looked -- you know, I looked at that name. I said, wait a minute, is there any relation there? Alex Acosta.
Q I’m sure you checked that out, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: No, I checked it. I said -- they said, no, sir. I said, do me a favor, go back and check the family tree.
Q But aren’t you concerned, sir, that you are undermining the people's faith in the First Amendment freedom of the press, the press in this country when you call stories you don't like “fake news”? Why not just say it’s a story I don't like?
THE PRESIDENT: I do that.
Q When you call it fake news, you're undermining confidence --
THE PRESIDENT: No, I do that. No, no, I do that.
Q -- in our news media.
THE PRESIDENT: Here’s the thing.
Q Isn’t that important?
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, I understand -- and you're right about that except this. See, I know when I should get good and when I should get bad. And sometimes I’ll say, wow, that's going to be a great story, and I’ll get killed. I know what’s good and bad. I’d be a pretty good reporter -- not as good as you. But I know what’s good. I know what’s bad.
And when they change it and make it really bad -- something that should be positive. Sometimes something that should be very positive, they’ll make okay. They’ll even make it negative. So I understand it because I’m there. I know what was said. I know who is saying it. I’m there. So it’s very important to me.
Look, I want to see an honest press. When I started off today by saying that it’s so important to the public to get an honest press. The press -- the public doesn't believe you people anymore. Now, maybe I had something to do with that, I don't know. But they don't believe you.
If you were straight and really told it like it is, as Howard Cosell used to say, right? Of course, he had some questions also. But if you were straight, I would be your biggest booster, I would be your biggest fan in the world -- including bad stories about me. But if you go -- as an example, you're CNN -- I mean, it’s story after story after story is bad. I won. I won. And the other thing: Chaos. There’s zero chaos. We are running -- this is a fine-tuned machine. And Reince happens to be doing a good job. But half of his job is putting out lies by the press.
I said to him yesterday, this whole Russia scam that you guys are building so that you don't talk about the real subject, which is illegal leaks. But I watched him yesterday working so hard to try and get that story proper. And I’m saying, here’s my Chief of Staff, a really good guy, did a phenomenal job at RNC. I mean, we won the election, right? We won the presidency. We got some senators. We got some -- all over the country, you take a look, he’s done a great job.
And I said to myself, you know -- and I said to somebody that was in the room -- I said, you take a look at Reince, he’s working so hard just putting out fires that are fake fires. They're fake. They're not true. And isn't that a shame, because he'd rather be working on health care. He'd rather be working on tax reform, Jim. I mean that. I would be your biggest fan in the world if you treated me right. I sort of understand there's a certain bias, maybe by Jeff or somebody -- for whatever reason. And I understand that. But you've got to be at least a little bit fair. And that's why the public sees it -- they see it. They see it's not fair. You take a look at some of your shows and you see the bias and the hatred. And the public is smart. They understand it. WhiteHouse.gov
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