Fox News’ Chris Wallace Grills John Bolton Over Trump’s Attacks On Media – By Hayley Miller (huffpost.com) / Aug 5 2018
National Security Adviser John Bolton dodged questions from Fox News' Chris
National Security Adviser John Bolton dodged questions from Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Sunday about President Donald Trump’s tweet earlier claiming the media is “dangerous & sick” and “can cause War.”
“What wars have we started?” Wallace asked Bolton on “Fox News Sunday.”
Bolton failed to answer that question directly and attempted to redirect the conversation, saying that “the issue of press bias has been around for a long, long time.”
″There is press bias,” Wallace interrupted. “People get stories wrong, and people are called out for it. And we should be called out if we make a mistake.”
But then, citing the language in Trump’s Sunday tweet, he said, ”‘Cause war,’ ’sick,’ ‘divisive’ ― this is taking it to a completely different level.”
But Bolton continued to defend Trump’s repeated attacks on the media and journalists, whom the president has frequently labeled “the enemy of the people” and has accused of publishing “fake news.”
Fox News Sunday put together a clip of the disjunction between what national security officials said about Russian interference on Thursday (it's a serious threat) and what Trump said last night (it's a hoax). @AmbJohnBolton responded to it by attacking the media. pic.twitter.com/VWcle2SVrF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 5, 2018
“That’s the president’s view based on the attacks that the media made on him,” Bolton said. “There have been other administrations that have been highly critical of the press.”
“I think this kind of adversarial relationship is typical,” he added.
Trump on Sunday ramped up his attacks against the media in a flurry of tweets, including one in which he publicly acknowledged for the first time that his son Donald Trump Jr. met with Russians during the 2016 election to gather dirt on his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics – and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
Too bad a large portion of the Media refuses to report the lies and corruption having to do with the Rigged Witch Hunt – but that is why we call them FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
Trump’s anti-media rhetoric has drawn concern from lawmakers and journalists in newsrooms nationwide. The New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger told Trump during a meeting last month that the outlet had placed armed security guards outside their offices in response to an increase in threats against reporters.
A deadly attack against reporters at the Capitol Gazette newsroom in Maryland in June did nothing to quell Trump’s belligerent accusations against the media. Since the shooting, which left five people dead, Trump has used Twitter to attack news outlets, reporters and the media generally over 25 times.
The White House has largely stood by Trump’s anti-media stance. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders refused to say the press is not “the enemy of the people” during a briefing for reporters on Thursday. Senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump, daughter of the president, said earlier that day that she did not believe that assessment of the media to be true.
Trump tweeted later that he believed his daughter’s statement was correct because the entire media is not “the enemy of the people” ― but a “large percentage” is.
On Sunday, top White House adviser Kellyanne Conway broke with Trump’s assertion that journalists are “the enemy of the people,” though she continued to defend her boss’ attacks on the press.
“I think some journalists are enemy of the relevant and enemy of the news you can use,” Conway told CBS’ “Face The Nation.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fox-news-apos-chris-wallace-190831991.html
