President Trump slammed CNN Tuesday morning in a tweet responding to the news that three CNN employees were forced to resign over a retracted story linking Trump transition team member Anthony Scaramucci to a Senate Intelligence Committee probe into ties with Russia.
“Wow, CNN had to retract big story on "Russia," with 3 employees forced to resign,” Trump tweeted, wondering, “What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS!”
Wow, CNN had to retract big story on "Russia," with 3 employees forced to resign. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017
Trump also retweeted a graphic mocking CNN as a “Fake News Network.”
— Jeff (@JeffTutorials) June 26, 2017
Trump later tweeted that CNN's ratings are "way down."
Fake News CNN is looking at big management changes now that they got caught falsely pushing their phony Russian stories. Ratings way down!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017
He also tweeted that while CNN had been caught spreading fake news, what about NBC, CBS, ABC, and others?
So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC? What about the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost? They are all Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017
The story, posted to CNN’s website Thursday, claimed Scaramucci was being investigated by the Senate Intelligence Committee over ties to Russian businessman Kirill Dmitriev, who runs the Russian Direct Investment Fund which guides investments by U.S. entities in Russia.
CNN retracted the story Friday evening and said the story, which cited one anonymous source, didn’t meet its editorial standards. The network also apologized to Scaramucci.
A network executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press Monday that the story’s author, Pulitzer-Prize nominee Thomas Frank, has resigned. Eric Lichtblau, assistant managing editor at the organization's Washington bureau and past Pulitzer-Prize winner is also resigning along with Lex Harris, head of the investigations unit.