Trump accuses Watergate legend of ‘inventing’ story on top lawyer
● President calls reporter ‘sloppy’ ● Carl Bernstein defends CNN story
president Donald Trump has taken his war against “fake news” to unprecedented levels after accusing legendary Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein of inventing a story about his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen.
The story that has earned Mr Trump’s ire was televised by American broadcaster CNN and has led to the president demanding the sacking of network president Jeff Zucker.
Anonymous sources in the story were quoted as saying Cohen, the president’s former personal lawyer, was ready to testify that Mr Trump was aware of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son, Donald Trump Jr, and Russians who said they had damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
Mr Bernstein – a famed journalist who covered the Waterpened. gate scandal during the Nixon presidency – coauthored the story alongside CNN reporter Jim Sciutto.
Mr Trump has taken aim at the story, branding Mr Bernstein a “sloppy” and “degenerate fool” who invented stories.
On Twitter, the president said “CNN is being torn apart from within” over refusing to admit their mistakes, adding Mr Bernstein “is being laughed at all over the country”.
Mr Bernstein fired back yesterday, tweeting that he spent his life “bringing the truth to light” and “no taunt” could diminish that commitment.
The original story was aired on 27 July and said Cohen was willing to say he heard Mr Trump’s son tell his father about the Russians’ offer to share material about Clinton, his Democratic rival for the presidency.
It also said Mr Trump gave the go-ahead to take the meeting at Trump Tower.
If true, the story would contradict what Mr Trump and representatives have long said about not knowing about the meeting until long after it hapus
Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis has recently taken back earlier remarks and now says he is no longer certain that Cohen could legitimately claim Trump knew about the meeting and that he didn’t have information to prove it.
He said he was a source for other news organisations that tried to match CNN’S original story and that he was a source for CNN.
CNN, in its story on Tuesday, quoted Mr Davis as saying, “I should have done a much better job of speaking with more
suspicion than certainty and I regret my mistake.”
Despite a key source backing off his assertion, CNN is sticking by the story.
Mr Bernstein, tweeting at the president, said: “Make no mistake, Mr President, CNN does not lie.”
Mr Trump has frequently railed against “fake news” across the length of his presidency, with CNN arguably his most frequent target.
Early on Wednesday, the president tweeted more criticism, saying: “Anonymous Sources are really starting to BURN the media. @Foxnews The fact is that many anonymous sources don’t even exist. They are fiction made up by the fake news reporters. look at the lie that Fake CNN is now in. They got caught red handed! Enemy of the People!”
He continued the attack on the network later in the day in another tweet: “CNN is being torn apart from within based on their being caught in a major lie and refusing to admit the mistake.” He also launched a personal attack against Mr Bernstein, accusing him of “making up story after story”.
CNN responded with a tweet saying it “stands by our reporting and our reporters”.
Mr Bernstein also tweeted, saying: “I have spent my life as a journalist bringing the truth to light, through administrations of both parties. No taunt will diminish my commitment to that mission.”
Mr Trump’s clash with Mr Bernstein comes as fellow-watergate reporter Bob Woodward prepare store lease a book next month detailing life inside the Trump White House.