Stelter Confronts Trump Legal Adviser on POTUS’ Tweet Hitting Comcast: How Is That Not an Abuse of Power?
Towards the end of a wild interview Sunday, CNN’s Brian Stelter confronted Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis about President Donald Trump going after Comcast.
On Saturday, the president shared a 2017 Mike Huckabee tweet about poor Comcast service to say, “Concast is known for its terrible service. On top of that they provide FAKE NEWS on MSDNC & @NBCNews. Drop them and go to a good provider!”
Concast is known for its terrible service. On top of that they provide FAKE NEWS on MSDNC & @NBCNews. Drop them and go to a good provider! https://t.co/Ew4cB2UPv4
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2020
Stelter asked Ellis, “How is that not an abuse of the president’s power using his platform in that way?”
“First of all, Brian, again, I knew you’d probably bring something like this up,” Ellis started. “We agreed prior to me coming on that we would stay to certain topics. And, you know, this is something — again, I’m happy to talk about anything but this is again where the fake news…”
“I told you I’m going to ask you about Trump and the media,” Stelter jumped in, asking again if the president’s tweet is appropriate.
“He has an opinion! He’s a businessman,” Ellis said. “He’s the president but he’s also an Aerican citizen. So doesn’t he have the right to an opinion?”
Stelter quoted Norm Eisen calling it an abuse of power before Ellis remarked that “abuse of power” was used against the president in “the whole fake news impeachment hoax.”
“He actually called out MSNBC and NBC News. He was linking it to his distaste for news coverage,” Stelter retorted.
Ellis continued to say Trump just shared an opinion before saying he’s using his platform “to call out the fake news media.”
Stelter ended up just asking, “You understand that like some day you’re going to regret this, right? Some day you’re going to regret this when your kids and your grandkids look back at this time, and you use slurs and smears like fake news to hurt news outlets.”
“Oh, now you’re going for the personal attacks,” Ellis shot back. “That’s when you know you’ve lost the debate, Brian.”
Stelter continued and said in 10 or 20 years she’ll “recognize how damaging it was to use terms like fake news, to attack journalists who are trying to do their jobs.”
“You’re not trying to do your job. You’re not a journalist, Brian. You’re an activist. That’s the problem,” Ellis said. “You have an agenda and your agenda is anti-Trump. The American people see through this. This president is finally holding the fake news media accountable because you’re activists. You’re not reporting fact and truth.”
You can watch above, via CNN.
