On Tuesday, President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Theresa May held a joint press conference during his state visit to the United Kingdom. The included Trump acting diplomatic towards his hosts, and he even extended an olive branch to May when he quipped that she was probably a better negotiator than him, but that didn’t stop CNN from running hourly coverage of the protests in London.
Trump made a short comment about how the media was over-covering the protests as it has been played ad nauseam. Here’s what he said:
As far as the protests I have to tell you because I commented on it yesterday, we left the Prime Minister, the Queen, the Royal family, there were thousands of people on the streets cheering and even coming over today, there were thousands of people cheering. And then I heard that there were protests. I said where are the protests? I don't see any protests. I did see small a protest today when I came, very small. So, a lot of it is fake news I hate to say. You saw the people waving the American flag, waving your flag. It was tremendous spirit and love. There was great love. There was an alliance and I didn't see the protesters until just a little while ago and it was a very, very small group of people put in for political reasons. So, it was fake news. Thank you.
Did Trump lie about the protests? Maybe, he did talk about what he saw and CNN themselves reported that protestors were being kept back from the President, so he wouldn’t be able to see them often in the first place. What is ludicrous is that CNN and CNN Newsroom host Jim Sciutto in particular, ran wall-to-wall coverage of Trump comments with footage cut in of the protests, and then would spout to their audience about how Trump only calls things “fake news” when it’s an “inconvenient truth.”
Here’s just one segment of the day’s coverage with the Toronto Star's Daniel Dale (click “expand”):
SCIUTTO: Daniel Dale, you covered this President for some time. And noted the many times when he has said things that aren't backed up by the facts, and of course, he did that in this press conference again, claiming protests that are taking place as we speak in London against this President, fairly well attended protests, that they're fake news. Just I want to play that comment for you and get your reaction.
TRUMP: I don't see any protests I hate to say. I did see small a protest today when I came, very small. So, a lot of it is fake news I hate to say. You saw the people waving the American flag, waving your flag. It was tremendous spirit and love. There was great love. There was an alliance and I didn't see the protesters until just a little while ago and it was a very, very small group of people put in for political reasons.
SCIUTTO: Well, in fact, that's not true. But our Nic Robertson, Daniel Dale, has been said on purpose U.K. police have kept those protests at bay to some degree so the President did not see them.
DALE: Yes, so it is true that he hasn't spent much time observing these protests personally. So that's not false. But the suggestion that this is fake news is yet more evidence that the President uses the phrase fake news to mean news he doesn't like. These protests existed, period.
It’s unclear why CNN would rather spend more time discussing 50 seconds of the presser in which they believe Trump lied, rather than the moments where May and Trump discussed the deep bond between the U.S. and the U.K. over moments like the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
Here’s the relevant transcript:
CNN Newsroom
06/04/19
9:33 a.m. Eastern
JIM SCIUTTO: I want to do a quick fact check on the President because the President was asked about the protests in the U.K. to his visit and he claimed that they were fake news. Let's just show you some video of the protests taking place right now at Trafalgar Square, that effigy I suppose you could call it of President Trump tweeting -- not only there in Trafalgar Square, where they appear to be fairly well-attended, but there were some boos against the President from protesters as he entered the press conference. The President claimed the protests are fake news, there they are for your eyes to see. They are not.
(....)
10:05 Eastern
SCIUTTO: Daniel Dale, you covered this President for some time. And noted the many times when he has said things that aren't backed up by the facts, and of course, he did that in this press conference again, claiming protests that are taking place as we speak in London against this President, fairly well attended protests, that they're fake news. Just -- I want to play that comment for you and get your reaction.
TRUMP: I don't see any protests I hate to say. I did see small a protest today when I came, very small. So, a lot of it is fake news I hate to say. You saw the people waving the American flag, waving your flag. It was tremendous spirit and love. There was great love. It was an alliance and I didn't see the protesters until just a little while ago and it was a very, very small group of people put in for political reasons.
SCIUTTO: Well, in fact, that's not true. But our Nic Robertson, Daniel Dale, has been said on purpose U.K. police have kept those protests at bay to some degree so the President did not see them.
DANIEL DALE: Yes, so it is true that he hasn't spent much time observing these protests personally. So that's not false. But the suggestion that this is fake news is yet more evidence that the President uses the phrase fake news to mean news he doesn't like. These protests existed, period.
(....)
2:01 p.m. Eastern
BROOKE BALDWIN: But out on the streets of London, the mood was anything but friendly as protesters played trumpets, blew whistles, and chanted “Dump Trump” in opposition to his state visit. For his part, the President claimed they never saw them and there’s a very good reason for that. The police there block protestors from marching past 10 Downing Street.
