Former President Barack Obama indicted President Donald Trump’s treatment of the media during a speech on Friday, noting that he never called Fox News the “enemy of the people.”
WATCH:
“It shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican to say that we don’t threaten the freedom of the press because they say things or publish things we don’t like,” Obama said in Illinois. “I complained plenty about Fox News, but you never heard me threaten to shut ’em down. Or call them ‘enemies of the people.'”
While Obama never called Fox the “enemy,” he did attack them regularly and was even caught aggressively spying on one of the network’s reporters. (RELATED: Obama Relentlessly Attacked Fox News)
Obama blamed Fox News for creating a “very polarized society” and “churning out a lot of misinformation on a regular basis.” In 2009, the president tried to exclude Fox from attending an interview with a Treasury Department official.
The Washington Post reported in 2013 that the Obama administration was spying on Fox News’ James Rosen because he reported on leaked documents. The spying involved collecting phone records, tracking movements, and seizing personal emails.