FIVE THINGS ABOUT TRUMP AND CNN

1 ‘THEY CAUGHT FAKE NEWS CNN COLD’

U.S. President Donald Trump is using the resignations of three CNN journalists involved in a retracted Russia-related story to rail against media credibility, tweeting on Tuesday that “they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC?”

2 RESIGNATIONS ACCEPTED

CNN on Monday accepted the resignations of journalists Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau and Lex Haris over last week’s web story about Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci’s pre-inaugural meeting with the head of a Russian investment fund. CNN retracted the story a day later, saying it had not met its standards, and apologized to Scaramucci.

3 STORY WASN’T CARRIED ON TV NETWORKS

The misstep on a relatively minor story — it was never mentioned on any of CNN’s television networks — left some White House staff members jubilant, believing it has handed them a new talking point to use as a cudgel against mainstream media organizations they feel are largely biased against them. Trump, who hasn’t granted the network an interview since he’s been president, tweeted that “CNN is looking at big management changes now that they got caught falsely pushing their phoney Russian stories. Ratings way down!”

4 TRUMP’S SON TWEETS VIDEO LINK

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., also tweeted a link to the video posted by conservative provocateur James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas. The hiddencamera video showed John Bonifield, an Atlanta-based producer in CNN’s medical unit, talking about how the “ratings are incredible” for the network’s Russian coverage. He said the network has no “smoking gun” showing wrongdoing by Trump and that “the president is probably right to say, look, you are witchhunting me.”

5 NETWORK REFUTES RATINGS COMMENT

CNN said it is standing by Bonifield. “Diversity of personal opinion is what makes CNN strong,” CNN said. “We welcome it and embrace it.” CNN’s public relations staff refuted Trump’s notion that the network is hurting, saying it is completing the mostwatched second quarter in the network’s history.