During a press conference with UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday, President Trump refused to take any questions from CNN’s White House Correspondent Jim Acosta, according to The Daily Beast .
Acosta was attempting to ask a question, when the President said, “CNN is fake news. I don’t take questions from CNN. John Roberts of Fox. Let’s go to a real network.”
After facing criticism from The Washington Post for not defending the network during the press conference, Roberts released a statement, explaining, “In today’s press conference, I paused while my colleague from CNN went back and forth with President Trump over a question. When it became clear that the president wasn’t going to entertain a question from him, I proceeded with my question, as did my fellow colleagues in the press corps.”
In his statement, however, Roberts went on to defend NBC News correspondent Kristen Welker, who the President had called “dishonest” earlier the same day for asking about his recent conflict with NATO allies. Roberts said, “She is honest as the day is long. For the President to call her dishonest is unfair.”
“I also used to work at CNN,” Roberts continued, “There are some fine journalists who work there and risk their lives to report on stories around the world. To issue a blanket condemnation of the network as ‘fake news’ is also unfair.”
After releasing this statement, Roberts repeated his comments about the press conference while reporting for Fox News in London, after which Fox News host Harris Faulkner said, “John Roberts, you always have people’s back. It’s impressive.”
Jake Tapper also criticized Roberts for his initial silence Friday morning, tweeting, “Old enough to remember when other networks came to the defense of Fox News WH correspondents during the Obama years. Such did not happen here.”
Old enough to remember when other networks came to the defense of Fox News WH correspondents during the Obama years. Such did not happen here.
Lesson for the kids out there: no one should ever try to do the right thing with the expectation it will ever be reciprocated. https://t.co/Ym7E94k2Wz
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 13, 2018
Back in 2009, Tapper challenged the Obama administration’s decision to not refer to Fox News as an actual news organization. At the time, then ABC News White House Correspondent said, “It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations ‘not a news organization’ and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one?”
President Obama’s press secretary Robert Gibbs simply replied, “That’s our opinion.”
