CNN is continuing to stand by their now debunked Trump Tower story as of Wednesday night — despite numerous holes in it — and the network has now directly challenged the president for calling out their refusal to issue a retraction.
Make no mistake, Mr. President, CNN does not lie. We report the news. And we report when people in power tell lies. CNN stands by our reporting and our reporters. There may be many fools in this story but @carlbernstein is not one of them.
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) August 29, 2018
“Make no mistake, Mr. President, CNN does not lie. We report the news. And we report when people in power tell lies,” CNN’s Communications twitter account said. This tweet comes on the heels of the president going after Carl Bernstein, one of the reporters who broke the story.
Despite their latest defense, attorney Lanny Davis has admitted that he was a source for a CNN report claiming that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen is willing to tell the special counsel’s office that President Donald Trump had foreknowledge of the Trump Tower meeting.
Davis admitted in an interview with CNN’s own Anderson Cooper last week that the reporting got “mixed up” and that his client, Michael Cohen, does not have any information proving that the president knew of the meeting beforehand. (RELATED: CNN Quadruples Down On Dubious Trump Story – Leaves Out Key Details)
Further, he told BuzzFeed News on Monday night that he “made a mistake” and was, in fact, an anonymous source for the CNN bombshell.
CNN is being torn apart from within based on their being caught in a major lie and refusing to admit the mistake. Sloppy @carlbernstein, a man who lives in the past and thinks like a degenerate fool, making up story after story, is being laughed at all over the country! Fake News
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018
In their original story, CNN said Lanny Davis had declined to comment. However, Davis himself has refuted that claim. By outing himself as their source, he has already proven one inaccuracy in the story. Despite that CNN is continuing to stand by their story.
In response to CNN’s latest comment, however, former White House press secretary Ari Fletcher took a moment to point out just a few stories that the network had reported incorrectly.
Comey wouldn’t confirm Trump’s statement that Trump wasn’t under investigation. Scaramucci is connected to the Russians.
Don Jr. knew about Wikileaks in advance. Cohen was wiretapped. Trump knew about meeting in Trump Tower. https://t.co/fwRJI2sHyy— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) August 30, 2018
The original report was published by CNN’s Jim Sciutto, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Bernstein and Marshall Cohen.
Follow Mike on Twitter.