Jeffrey Lord on CNN with Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer (CNN/YouTube) 
 
 President Donald Trump’s Thursday press conference had many people talking. Addressing the latest White House scandal involving former national security advisor Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump said “Russia is fake news” noting later, “the leaks are absolutely real, the news is fake.” 
 
 In reality, Trump gave a weapons-grade crazy 77-minute press conference. However, CNN contributor and Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord had a different take on that “meltdown.” Speaking with CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer, Lord said, “I think we saw two different press conferences.” 
 
 “From my perspective, I thought he was relaxed, he was funny, he was on point. He took the whole issue of the media, and he had a very candid conversation,” Lord said. “This is the kind of conversation that I personally had with him a couple years ago in which he said some version of this same thing that he said today, except he was more specific.” 
 
 Lord described the president as “candid, very dedicated to the job, very in command.” 
 
 “What about some of the back and forth that he had with reporters? You used to work in the Reagan White House — is that really presidential four weeks into a new term?” Blitzer asked. “I think this is going to be his presidential style,” Lord replied. 
 
 Tapper later mentioned a reporter from NBC who called out President Trump for incessantly calling the media “fake news” while also “saying things that are not true,” noting the reporter was asking, “How do you have credibility to call us fake news?” 
 
 “I think it was a simple mistake,” replied Lord, calling the reporter’s question “nitpicky.” He then proceeded to launch an attack on the network. “I had somebody here locally say to me during the campaign, you know, they recognized me, and they came over and they said — and it was a comment about CNN, which I’ll be happy to make on air here, just so you know,” Lord started. 
 
 He continued, “They said if Donald Trump sneezed, CNN would spend four days talking about his damage to the environment. That’s the kind of perception, not just about CNN, but about the media at large, and that’s the kind of feeling that he addresses.” 
 
 Watch the full clip below. ||||| President Donald Trump harkened back to the free-wheeling style of his unconventional 2016 Republican primary campaign in a 77-minute press conference Thursday during which he touted his poll numbers and took on the “dishonest media.” 
 
 President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) 
 
 U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions during a news conference at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 16, 2017. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) 
 
 President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) 
 
 President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) 
 
 WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump harkened back to the free-wheeling style of his unconventional 2016 Republican primary campaign in a 77-minute press conference Thursday during which he touted his poll numbers and took on the “dishonest media.” 
 
 Payback was in the air as the newly-elected president took on the role of media critic. He excoriated CNN for its poor ratings, mocked the BBC as “that’s another beauty,” and responded to a question about anti-Semitism, saying to his questioner, “OK, sit down, I understand the rest of your question.” 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ditching decorum and diplomacy, Trump told the press, “the public doesn’t believe you anymore.” 
 
 The president took on the White House press corps after a week of negative news. Monday night National Security Adviser Mike Flynn resigned after the Washington Post reported that a Justice official had told the White House Flynn was susceptible to blackmail because he had misled senior administration officials about a conversation with the Russian ambassador during the transition. 
 
 Then the New York Times reported that unnamed U.S. officials believed some Trump backers were in contact with Russian intelligence officials during the 2016 campaign. Wednesday the Wall Street Journal ran a story that suggested intelligence officials were withholding information from the commander-in-chief. 
 
 
 
 
 
 When Trump refused to take TV news reporters’ questions about Flynn and Russia at Wednesday’s joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, CNN’s Jim Acosta charged that Trump’s decision to call on only conservative and Christian media meant, “The fix is in.” 
 
 At a news conference called ostensibly to announce the nomination of law school dean Alexander Acosta as Labor Secretary, Trump joked to the CNN reporter that he had his staff “check the family tree” to make sure that his nominee with the same last name was not related. 
 
 “You can’t say he’s not responsive to the press,” Alice Stewart, a former reporter and current CNN contributor, GOP strategist and Trump supporter, said after the news conference. “He answered all the questions from all over the press corps and put to rest the long-standing dialogue that he shuts down certain news outlets.” 
 
 A week’s worth of pent up questions gushed forth at the briefing. 
 
 Did Trump fire Flynn? Yes, but not for what he said to the Russian ambassador, but because Flynn withheld information from Vice President Mike Pence. 
 
 Trump dismissed “the failing New York Times” story on alleged campaign contact with Russian officials as “a joke” and “fake news” — fabricated to explain away Democrat Hillary Clinton’s election loss. The problem, Trump contended, are leakers “probably from the Obama administration” who have been feeding classified information to the media. 
 
 
 
 
 
 “I said to myself,” said Trump, “‘What happens when I’m dealing with the problem of North Korea?’” 
 
 So how can Trump complain about leaks of from his shop when he said he loved Wikileaks when it was releasing e-mails from Clinton campaign operatives? The difference, said Trump, is that this week’s stories involve “highly-classified information” — not Clinton campaign chairman “John Podesta saying bad things about the boss.” 
 
 At one point, Trump suggested that “false, horrible, fake reporting makes it much harder to make a deal with Russia.” 
 
 As is his habit, Trump fudged a few facts himself – he said he won 306 electoral college votes, when in fact he won 304. He wrongly claimed that his win was “the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan,” when George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama fared better in the electoral college. 
 
 “It’s just crazy,” opined former CNN correspondent Frank Sesno, author of the book, “Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change.” “I know that this may scratch an itch that he has about the media and he feels this a really unfair situation and it may resonate with his base. This does not play well over time.” 
 
 Stewart is not so sure. “From a communications standpoint, I think attacking the media is not a smart move, but it’s worked for him,” she said. “His goal was to change the narrative and all you can say now is, ‘Mission accomplished.’” 
 
 On that point, Trump cited the latest Rasmussen poll, which found 55 percent of Americans approving of his performance in office. 
 
 For his part, Sesno believes the optics are bad as Trump came across as overly obsessed with the media. “He’s certainly not winning over the skeptics and the fence sitters.” 
 
 Trump, however, thinks the optics are bad for those who cover him. “And I’ll tell you what else I see,” Trump said during the epic press conference. “I see tone. You know the word ‘tone.’ The tone is such hatred. I’m really not a bad person, by the way. No, but the tone is such — I do get good ratings, you have to admit that — the tone is such hatred.” 
 
 At the White House, however, Trump argued life is good. “I turn on the TV, open the newspapers, and I see stories of chaos,” he said. “Chaos. Yet, it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine.” 
 
 Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or at 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter. ||||| President turns fire on media in erratic display as his labor secretary pulls out and replacement for disgraced national security adviser turns job down 
 
 Donald Trump dismissed reports of chaos and conspiracy in his administration and claimed his team was running like “a fine-tuned machine” during an extraordinary press conference at which he tried to reset his beleaguered presidency. 
 
 In a boisterous and often bizarre session, he fired off numerous broadsides at the media as he skipped from topic to topic in what critics saw as an attempt to deflect attention from his alleged ties to Russia. 
 
 “I turn on the TV, open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos, chaos,” Trump scolded reporters. “Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, despite the fact that I can’t get my cabinet approved.” 
 
 But soon afterwards that same “fine-tuned” administration was plunged into further disarray. On Thursday night, it was confirmed that Trump’s preferred replacement for his disgraced national security adviser has turned the job down. 
 
 'Russia is fake news': Trump decries reports of pre-election communication Read more 
 
 The president’s first solo media briefing since taking office was held ostensibly to announce Alexander Acosta as his new pick for labour secretary after his first choice, Andrew Puzder, withdrew from consideration. 
 
 
 
 But the event at the White House rapidly turned into a sprawling, freewheeling and pugnacious defence of his first four weeks as president and a bitter denunciation of the press. 
 
 In a remarkable press conference – spanning 77 minutes in which he took questions from 17 reporters – Trump: 
 
 Denied any connections to Russia or any knowledge of his election campaign team having contacts with Moscow, dismissing stories as a “ruse” 
 
 
 
 Slammed the “dishonest” media for putting out what he called fake news and doing a “disservice” to the American people 
 
 
 
 Claimed he had achieved more in his first four weeks in office than any previous US president, adding: “We’re just getting started” 
 
 
 
 Denied that his ban on travellers from Muslim-majority countries had been poorly executed, insisting: “We had a bad court” 
 
 Argued that he had “inherited a mess”, both domestically and abroad 
 
 
 
 Was told he was wrong to claim he had the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan. He replied: “I was given that information” 
 
 
 
 Asked a black journalist, April Ryan, if she would set up a meeting for him with the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss his inner-city agenda: “Are they friends of yours?” 
 
 He argued that there had been “incredible progress” over the past four weeks: “I don’t think there’s ever been a president elected who in this short period of time has done what we have done.” 
 
 
 
 The measures taken so far include withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, eliminating regulations that “undermine manufacturing”, plans to smash international drug cartels and strengthening the country’s borders. Trump contrasted himself with past politicians who made promises only to break them. 
 
 In a swipe at Barack Obama’s administration, Trump said: “To be honest, I inherited a mess. It’s a mess. At home and abroad, a mess. 
 
 “Jobs are pouring out of the country – you see what’s going on with all of the companies leaving our country, going to Mexico and other places, low pay, low wages, mass instability overseas, no matter where you look. The Middle East is a disaster. North Korea – we’ll take care of it, folks; we’re going to take care of it all. I just want to let you know, I inherited a mess.” 
 
 But as so often during the election campaign, it was the media that became his primary punchbag. He claimed it was serving not the people but special interests profiting from a broken system. “The press has become so dishonest that if we don’t talk about, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people. Tremendous disservice. We have to talk to find out what’s going on, because the press honestly is out of control. The level of dishonesty is out of control.” 
 
 Trump claimed he was talking about an entrenched “power structure” that needed attention. “We’re not going to let it happen, because I’m here again to take my message straight to the people.” 
 
 He singled out broadcasters and individual reporters for particular criticism, insisting that they had lost the trust of the public. “I just see many, many untruthful things. It’s about tone. The tone is such hatred. I’m really not a bad person. I do get good ratings, you have to admit that.” 
 
 The coverage of the press conference itself would be skewed, he added. “I love this. I’m having a good time doing it. Tomorrow, the headlines are going to be: ‘Donald Trump rants and raves.’ I’m not ranting and raving.” 
 
 Allegations about Trump’s connections with Russia hovered over the entire news conference. Apparently trying to square a circle, Trump claimed: “The leaks are absolutely real. The news is fake because so much of the news is fake.” 
 
 He argued: “You know, you can talk all you want about Russia, which was all fake news, fabricated deal, to try and make up for the loss of the Democrats, and the press plays right into it.” 
 
 The president was asked repeatedly about whether his advisers had contact with Russia during the US presidential election campaign. He eventually conceded: “Nobody that I know of. How many times do I have to answer this question? Russia is a ruse.” 
 
 Not so business-savvy: the CEO in the White House is bad at hiring people | Lucia Graves Read more 
 
 Trump claimed that media reports about his administration’s relationship with Russia might make it difficult for him to strike a deal with Vladimir Putin. “Putin probably assumes that he can’t make a deal with me any more because politically it would be unpopular for a politician to make a deal.” 
 
 
 
 He mocked Hillary Clinton, his defeated election opponent and a former secretary of state, for an attempt to “reset” relations with Russia, which included a mocked-up plastic button that he said “made us all look like a bunch of jerks”. And he challenged the room, asking whether anyone seriously thought Clinton would be tougher on Russia than he was. 
 
 The Trump administration was thrown into turmoil by Monday’s resignation of the national security adviser, Michael Flynn, over his secret discussion of US sanctions with Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak. On Thursday night, Robert Harward, who Trump wanted to replace Flynn, was confirmed to have refused the offer. 
 
 The president confirmed he asked Flynn to resign but insisted he was a “fine person” who did nothing wrong by speaking to Russia’s ambassador about sanctions. 
 
 “Mike was doing his job,” he said. “He was calling countries and his counterparts. So, it certainly would have been OK with me if he did it. I would have directed him to do it if I thought he wasn’t doing it. I didn’t direct him, but I would have directed him because that’s his job.” 
 
 Instead, Flynn’s mistake was to mislead officials including the vice-president, Mike Pence. “He didn’t tell the vice-president of the United States the facts,” Trump said. “And then he didn’t remember. And that just wasn’t acceptable to me.” 
 
 He added: “I fired him because of what he said to Mike Pence: very simple ... I don’t think he did anything wrong. If anything, he did something right.” 
 
 The president insisted the “real story” was that the intelligence community leaking information about Flynn’s conversations and details of the investigation into his campaign advisers. 
 
 “I’ve actually called the justice department to look into the leaks,” he said. “Those are criminal leaks.” 
 
 Trump also railed against embarrassing leaks of his phone calls with world leaders including Australia and Mexico, suggesting that people within the White House could potentially put the US at risk by leaking confidential future conversations about how to handle North Korea. 
 
 Trump has been accused of stoking division and hiring a white nationalist, Steve Bannon, as his chief strategist. He angrily turned on a reporter who asked him if his administration had incited acts of antisemitism. “Sit down!” he barked. “Number one, I am the least antisemitic person you’ve ever seen in your entire life. Number two, racism, the least racist person.” 
 
 When the journalist tried to interject, Trump shouted over him: “Quiet, quiet, quiet. See, he lied that he was going to get up and ask a straight, simple question, so, you know, welcome to the world of the media.” 
 
 Trump was also caught in a falsehood about his electoral college victory being the biggest since Ronald Reagan but brushed it off. Zigzagging through various topics, he again insisted: “There’s zero chaos. This is a fine-tuned machine.” 
 
 Out of the loop: Rex Tillerson finds state department sidelined by White House Read more 
 
 But his grandstanding is unlikely to go down well on Capitol Hill. On Thursday, Chuck Schumer, leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, demanded investigations by both Congress and the justice department into ties between the Trump administration and Russia. 
 
 “We do not know all of the facts, and in the coming days and weeks, more information may well surface about these disturbing revelations,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “But we already know that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. 
 
 “I have been in Congress for a long time, and I’ve never, ever seen anything like this. The institutions of government are being tested in a way they have not been tested in some time ... I believe the stakes to be very high. This is not a drill. Nothing less than our system of checks and balances, the rule of law, and our national security is at stake.” 
 
 The Democratic House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, is pushing the interim director of national intelligence for a “comprehensive” briefing over the next two weeks. Pelosi will seek transcripts of the intercepted conversations Flynn had with Kislyak. 
 
 Trump’s original pick for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, abruptly withdrew from consideration on Wednesday. 
 
 Trump said Acosta, who did not appear with the president, “has had a tremendous career”. He noted that unlike Puzder, Acosta had been confirmed by the Senate three times and “did very, very well”. 
 
 If confirmed anew by the Senate, Acosta would become the first Hispanic member of Trump’s cabinet. He is now dean of the Florida International University law school. 
 
 Acosta has served on the National Labor Relations Board and as a federal prosecutor in Florida. He was named assistant attorney general for civil rights by George W Bush. 
 
 Additional reporting by Spencer Ackerman in New York and Ben Jacobs in Washington ||||| Getty Fourth Estate Put on Your Big-Boy Pants, Journos President Trump’s lies don’t call for extraordinary media measures. Just do your jobs. 
 
 Extraordinary times—and we are living in an extraordinary time—do not necessarily call for extraordinary measures on the part of the press, as comforting as a full berserking might make many of us feel. The opening minutes of the Trump administration—the lies told by press secretary Sean Spicer about the size of the inauguration crowd, the president’s whopper at CIA headquarters claiming the media made up his feud with the agency, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway’s notion that “alternative facts” support Trump’s imaginary numbers—have stirred bladder-emptying panic among some in the press corps. 
 
 But the Trump administration cannot by itself pollute the river of truth with its bogus tweets, its press conferences in which no questions are allowed, or by Conway jibber jabber. Extraordinary times like these call for normal measures: The meticulous, aggressive, and calm presentation of the news. One of our examples should be the Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold. Fahrenthold could have assessed the Trump candidacy by filling Twitter with angry comments or by setting himself on fire. Instead, as everybody knows, he excavated the self-dealing garbage dump that was the Trump Foundation as if he were an archeologist and published a series of patient stories that resulted in a penalty against the foundation and its planned closure. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 Reporters tend to be emotional souls, which gives them an advantage when hauling a load of bricks up a ladder for their ungrateful, demanding editors and indifferent readers. Emotion fuels their sense of justice and motivates them to keep on keeping on. CNN’s Brian Stelter says he hears from readers that reporters should boycott Spicer’s press briefings in protest of his misrepresentations. Others, such as media scholar Jay Rosen, are stating that the press corps should perhaps think about avoiding interviews with Conway if all she’s going to do is contradict Trump rather than speak for him. 
 
 Boycotts and bans may fill a journalists’ heart with vengeance, or at least keep it from being bruised. But their maker designed reporters to be resilient, to take disparagement, derision, scorn, and sneering from lying government officials in stride. And for good reason. To quote from Jon Ronson once again, “It’s good for journalists to feel demeaned. It means we’re onto a story.” Rather than treat the Spicer, Trump, Conway ingenuities as an excuse to pout and leave the field, the experienced members of the press will be propelled by the weekend to pick up their mobiles and notebooks and go maximum Fahrenthold on the administration. 
 
 As I’ve hypothesized before, there is a method to Trump’s tweets. Whenever he finds the noose of news lowering over his thick orange neck, he takes to Twitter to change the subject. The more outrageous and self-serving (or should I say “self-dealing”?) the tweets are, the better his results. 
 
 On Saturday, the obvious news peg for the press was well-attended protests against his inauguration in Washington, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and elsewhere in the world. So Trump sent his press secretary out to essentially speak one of his tweets by falsely stating that “the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period” viewed the Trump event. In doing so, Trump-Spicer snipped the peak off of the protest coverage by making muddy what was clear about the audience size. To believe Spicer, you must accept that an invisible majority filled the Mall and that stealth supporters dressed as bleachers occupied those near-vacant grandstands along the parade route, and as you contemplate the truth value of his statement, you begin to forget about the massive scale of the anti-Trump protests. 
 
 Rather than tying itself up in knots over the Trump obfuscations, the press would be wiser to stop thinking of him as the outlier liar and the worst enemy the press has ever known and come to view him as a politician whose behavior is different only in degree, not in kind. Consider the Obama presidency. As former Politicos Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen wrote in 2013 in a piece titled, “Obama, the Puppet Master,” he was “a master at limiting, shaping and manipulating media coverage of himself and his White House.” Obama didn’t camouflage the news with tweets or with shameless posturing in front of the CIA’s wall of martyrs as Trump did on Saturday, a move that caused former CIA Director John Brennan to growl in protest. Obama, VandeHei and Allen explained, took “old tricks for shaping coverage (staged leaks, friendly interviews) and put them on steroids using new ones (social media, content creation, precision targeting).” In doing so, “Media across the ideological spectrum [were] left scrambling for access.” 
 
 I don’t recall anybody calling for a boycott of Barack Obama or his myrmidons for his media scheming and for tipping the “balance of power between the White House and press … unmistakably toward the government,” as the Politico past-masters put it. The press mostly carried on, threading the thicket of treacheries as best it could. Governments always have and will always impede the press from doing their job, and they will use any means necessary. “All governments lie,” as journalist I.F. Stone once wrote, “but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out.” From my vantage, the Obama administration got Choom Gang stoned on their media pirouetting and the Trump administration seems to have come close to matching them in just a couple of days. 
 
 It is unseemly and counterproductive for journalists to sulk every time the Trump administration yanks their chain. Satisfying, yes, but unseemly and counterproductive. Because I believe in a multiverse of journalistic approaches, I would be the last person to ban moping among the press corps. Sometimes there’s nothing better than a long stay in the weeping room to embolden the beaten. But if you’re feeling whipped and you want my advice, ask yourself, “WWFD?” 
 
 “What Would Fahrenthold Do?” 
 
 ****** 
 
 Well, Fahrenthold has become a part-time CNN contributor, something I’m not suggesting pressies do! Send Fahrentholdian advice to Shafer.Politico@gmail.com. My email alerts owns a special sobbing towel, my Twitter feed hiccups when it cries, and my RSS feed grimaces like Charles Bronson whenever it hears a lie. 
 
 Jack Shafer is Politico’s senior media writer. ||||| President-elect Donald Trump Donald John TrumpDHS requesting more troops at border: report House passes legislation to re-open government despite opposition from Trump Maxine Waters: Much of my work will be undoing Mulvaney's 'damage' to CFPB MORE on Wednesday refused to take a question from a CNN reporter during his press conference, berating the network for “fake news.” 
 
 "Your organization is terrible," Trump told CNN’s Jim Acosta when he tried to ask a question. 
 
 "You're attacking us, can you give us a question?” Acosta replied. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 "Don't be rude. No, I'm not going to give you a question. You are fake news," Trump responded, before calling on a reporter from Breitbart. 
 
 CNN on Tuesday night reported that intelligence officials had briefed Trump on an unverified dossier alleging that the Russian government is in possession of compromising information about him. 
 
 The 35-page document — made up of a collection of memos filled with explosive claims about the billionaire's relationship to Russia — has reportedly been circulating among journalists and officials for at least a few weeks. 
 
 But the sourcing on the document is unclear and likely unverifiable. CNN reported that it is based primarily on memos compiled by a former British intelligence operative that were intended as opposition research into Trump. 
 
 The president-elect on Tuesday night immediately blasted the report, tweeting, "FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!" 
 
 During the press conference, Trump specifically called out CNN for pushing the story, saying it was "disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out." 
 
 "I think it's a disgrace, and I say that, and that's something that Nazi Germany who have done and did do," he said. 
 
 "I think it's a disgrace that information that was false and fake and never happened got released to the public. As far as BuzzFeed, which is a failing pile of garbage, writing it, I think they're going to suffer the consequences. They already are. And as far as CNN going out of their way to build it up." 
 
 The president-elect often rails on the media and has attacked CNN several times in the past for what he says is dishonest and biased coverage against him. ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201701/545/1155968404_5293817837001_5293815934001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Spicer: 'Our intention is never to lie to you' The White House press secretary also doubles down on his claim that Trump's inauguration drew the largest audience ever. 
 
 The White House’s intention is never to lie, press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday, moments before doubling down on his claim that President Donald Trump’s inauguration drew the largest audience “both in person and around the globe.” 
 
 Days after delivering a five-minute statement to the press in which he stated at least five demonstrably false so-called facts and took no questions, Spicer was challenged on what his role is as the White House press secretary at his first official briefing. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 “Is it your intention to always tell the truth from that podium? And will you pledge never to knowingly say something that is not factual?” ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked Monday. 
 
 “It is. It’s an honor to do this, and yes, I believe that we have to be honest with the American people,” Spicer told reporters. “I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out, but our intention is never to lie to you.” 
 
 Trump and his top aides took heat over the weekend for false claims they made to the press corps about the size of the crowd at Trump's inauguration, which counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway described Sunday as “alternative facts.” 
 
 On Saturday, Spicer falsely claimed that Trump garnered “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period — both in person and around the globe.” He also misstated the presence of magnetometers, inaccurately portrayed D.C. Metro data and incorrectly claimed that floor coverings were used for the first time Friday, supposedly accentuating areas where people weren’t standing. 
 
 “You’re saying it’s a falsehood,” Conway told host Chuck Todd of NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that.” 
 
 On Monday, Spicer indicated his unprecedented rebuke of the news media from the White House briefing room was the culmination of frustration from Trump and his staff on how the political outsider who’s ascended to the presidency has for months been rendered in the media. 
 
 Spicer went through a stream of headlines that have continually doubted Trump and his decisions: he can’t win the Republican nomination, he can’t beat Hillary Clinton in a general election, he won’t win this state or that state, his crowds aren’t that big, he isn’t that successful a businessman, Spicer recalled. 
 
 “The default narrative is always negative, and it’s demoralizing,” he said, pleading for fairer news coverage. “Sometimes we’ll make mistakes — I promise you that. But it’s not always gotta be negative. Some days we do do the right thing. Some days we are successful. Part of this is saying when we’re right, say we’re right. When we’re wrong, say we’re wrong. But it’s not always wrong and negative.” 
 
 Spicer likened his statement over the weekend to a mistake by a reporter or news outlet that calls for a correction, suggesting his aim wasn’t to lie — much like mistakes in the media aren’t intentional — but that he relied on faulty data, specifically with statistics about Metro ridership compared to past inaugurations. 
 
 “At the time, the information that I was provided by the inaugural committee came from an outside agency that we reported on,” he explained about ridership numbers. “And I think knowing what we know now, we can tell that WMATA’s numbers are different, but we were trying to provide numbers that we had been provided. That wasn't like we made them up out of thin air.” 
 
 Nevertheless, he also doubled down on his claim of Trump’s inauguration being the most viewed ever, though he stated it in a slightly different fashion. Citing Nielsen ratings and CNN’s reported online viewership, Spicer asserted that “it’s unquestionable” that Trump’s was the most watched, if one adds up in-person attendance, and TV and online viewership. “And I don’t see any numbers that dispute that,” he said. 
 
 Spicer, as the public spokesman of the Trump administration, vowed to do his best every week and share “the facts as I know them” at his daily briefings, promising that the White House will correct their mistakes, if necessary. 
 
 He also seemed to confirm reports and speculation that he was directed by the president to deliver his angry reproach Saturday. 
 
 “I came out to read a statement, I did it,” he said. “We’re here today. I'm gonna stay here as long as you want. I think you guys might want to leave before I do. But, look, I want to make sure that we have a healthy relationship.” ||||| FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2017 file photo, Anthony Scaramucci, a senior adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, talks to reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York. CNN isn't commenting Monday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — For a president seemingly at perpetual war with "fake news," the resignation of three CNN journalists over a retracted story about a Donald Trump Russian connection is a gift from the political gods when the struggling effort to pass a health bill dominates the headlines. 
 
 The White House quickly took advantage Tuesday with blistering presidential tweets and a media scolding at the afternoon press briefing. Conservative provocateur James O'Keefe piled on by releasing a video with a CNN producer caught on camera talking about the network's Russia coverage being ratings-driven. 
 
 CNN late Monday accepted the resignations of journalists Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau and Lex Haris over last week's web story about Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci's pre-inaugural meeting with the head of a Russian investment fund. The network retracted the story on Friday and apologized to Scaramucci. 
 
 Trump has been unhappy with CNN since he was a candidate, and has been particularly annoyed by its reporting on connections with Russia. The misstep on a relatively minor story — it was never mentioned on any of CNN's television networks — left some White House staff members jubilant, believing it handed them a new talking point to use as a cudgel against mainstream media organizations they feel are largely biased against them. 
 
 That happened quickly Tuesday when Sarah Huckabee Sanders called on a Breitbart News reporter for the first question of the White House briefing. It was about CNN. 
 
 She said the "constant barrage of fake news" at the president has frustrated Trump. She called stories about Russia and Trump "a hoax" that is distracting from other news. Sanders urged all Americans to watch a video posted by O'Keefe's Project Veritas featuring CNN producer John Bonifield — even though she couldn't vouch for its accuracy. 
 
 "If it is accurate, I think it's a disgrace to all of media, to all of journalism," Sanders said. "I think that if we have gone to a place where the media can't be trusted to report the news, then that's a dangerous place for America. And I think if that is that place that certain outlets are going — particularly for the purpose of spiking ratings, and if that's coming directly from the top, I think that's even more scary." 
 
 She was interrupted by reporter Brian Karem of the Sentinel newspapers, who accused Sanders of inflaming anti-media sentiment. "Everyone in this room is only trying to do their job," he said. 
 
 Sanders ignored CNN reporter Jeff Zeleny's attempt to ask a question before ending her briefing. 
 
 After Sanders left the stage, she was criticized on Fox News Channel, where Trump-friendly views usually dominate. Wall Street Journal editor John Bussey told Fox's Shepard Smith that "the White House could actually learn from CNN's example" about being forthright when caught saying something untrue. 
 
 Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that "they caught Fake News CNN cold." He lumped ABC, CBS, NBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post together in the same "fake news" category. He said that "CNN is looking at big management changes now that they got caught falsely pushing their phony Russian stories. Ratings way down!" 
 
 A spokeswoman for CNN chief Jeff Zucker didn't respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. CNN's public relations staff refuted Trump's notion that the network is hurting, saying it is completing the most-watched second quarter in its history. 
 
 The president was livid at CNN's story but also felt vindicated because it seemed to confirm his belief that the cable network was trying to undermine his presidency, according to one staffer who demanded anonymity to discuss private conversations. 
 
 The CNN issue enables the White House to change the subject for what has been a rough stretch for the presidency, with constant questions about the Russia probe and a vote on the Republican health care bill delayed. Aides also believe that highlighting media mistakes could be a useful way of questioning reporters' credibility and convincing supporters that Trump was the victim of a witch hunt. 
 
 Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted a link to the Bonifield video. Besides talking about ratings, the Atlanta-based producer in CNN's medical unit said the network has no "smoking gun" showing wrongdoing by Trump and that "the president is probably right to say, look, you are witch-hunting me." 
 
 CNN said in a statement that it is standing by Bonifield. "Diversity of personal opinion is what makes CNN strong," CNN said. "We welcome it and embrace it." 
 
 O'Keefe told The Associated Press that Project Veritas got the video on Friday and that a portion, in an elevator, was recorded at CNN's headquarters. He said that Project Veritas plans to release another video involving another CNN employee, with the timing dependent on how CNN reacts to the Bonifield material. 
 
 O'Keefe and Project Veritas have a track record of aiding Republican causes, often by using hidden cameras and hiding identities, and Trump's nonprofit foundation has made two $10,000 donations to the organization. His sting operation led to the downfall of ACORN, a community organizing group that O'Keefe portrayed as engaging in criminal activity via hidden camera. 
 
 Before last November's election, Project Veritas released a series of heavily edited videos that included a Democratic activist appearing to brag about deploying troublemakers at Trump rallies. The fallout included the two people most prominently featured, Scott Foval and Robert Creamer, cutting ties with the Democratic National Committee. Creamer's firm recently sued Project Veritas alleging the sting violated federal wiretap law. 
 
 O'Keefe declined to discuss how the Bonifield video came about. O'Keefe said his efforts are journalistic and, since they include video, he contends that it is more believable than media stories based on anonymous sources. The retracted CNN story was heavily dependent upon one anonymous source. 
 
 One social media exchange about the CNN story indicated how feelings about the network were running strong among Trump supporters. 
 
 John Podhoretz, a conservative columnist for The New York Post and editor of Commentary magazine tweeted that "CNN published a bad story, pulled it, apologized. 3 journalists quit. That's impressive and decisive action. Yelling 'fake news' is unfair." 
 
 That drew a quick retort from Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity, an ardent Trump backer. "John wtf has happened to you?" Hannity wondered online. 
 
 Podhoretz declined to respond to Hannity online and denied an interview request. 
 
 ____ 
 
 Associated Press correspondents Julie Bykowicz and Jill Colvin in Washington, and Jonathan Lemire in New York contributed to this report. ||||| Trump Decries 'Fake News' Stories About Aides' Ties To Russia 
 
 President Trump held a free-flowing wide-ranging news conference on Thursday to defend his administration and decry what he called "fake news" stories about his associates' ties to Russia. 
 
 KELLY MCEVERS, HOST: 
 
 Today President Trump held his first full news conference since his inauguration. It was wide-ranging. It lasted more than an hour. And at times, it was pretty tense after a week of headlines about setbacks, controversy and chaos surrounding the White House. Today the president pushed back. 
 
 (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) 
 
 PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I mean it's - story after story after story is bad. I won. I won. And the other thing - chaos. There's zero chaos. We are running - this is a fine-tuned machine. 
 
 MCEVERS: NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson was at the news conference and joins us now from the White House. Hi, Mara. 
 
 MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hi there. 
 
 MCEVERS: So this news conference was announced with just about an hour's notice. What prompted it? 
 
 LIASSON: Well, ostensibly it was to announce his new labor secretary nominee, but that was really just a blip. I think it was about showing that he could do this. He stood there for almost 80 minutes. He took tough questions not just from friendly reporters. I think he wanted to seize back the narrative and defend his administration's accomplishments. 
 
 And of course, as he often does, he provided his own real-time color commentary and tried to anticipate his next day's box office and work the refs all at the same time. Here's a little bit of that. 
 
 (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) 
 
 TRUMP: Tomorrow they will say, Donald Trump rants and raves at the press. I'm not ranting and raving. I'm just telling you, you know, you're dishonest people. But I'm not ranting and raving. I love this. I'm having a good time doing it. 
 
 LIASSON: This is the Donald Trump we got to know during the campaign. He was defensive. He was frustrated. He was aggrieved. He was combative. But he was also funny and charming like he was with the press during all those years in New York as a fixture in the tabloids. I am told he was pretty pleased with his performance today and that he is now in high spirits. 
 
 MCEVERS: When the news up till now has been all about Russia. I mean let's start with the resignation of Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn. What'd he say about that? 
 
 LIASSON: Well, I got the first question, and I asked him about why he let Flynn go. He said it was because of what he did or didn't tell the vice president. Then I asked him why he had kept Vice President Pence in the dark for almost two weeks. Pence found out about Flynn misleading him from the media. And Trump seemed to say the reason he kept him in the dark was that he just didn't think what Flynn did was that big a deal. 
 
 The president also addressed stories alleging contacts between people associated with his campaign and Russian intelligence officials. He said, the leaks are real, but the news is fake. He said, I have nothing to do with Russia. And he was repeatedly asked about those contacts between his campaign officials and Russian officials, and he finally said, not that I know of. 
 
 MCEVERS: It wasn't all Russia and Flynn. What other news did the president make today? 
 
 LIASSON: He said that there will be an Obamacare replacement by mid-March. He's going to have a new executive order revising the travel ban next week that will be tailored to address the objections by the appeals court. 
 
 MCEVERS: Any other moments stand out to you? 
 
 LIASSON: Yeah, there were so many of them. There was one when he was called out about using inaccurate numbers about how his Electoral College win compared to past presidents. He was asked why Americans should trust him when he keeps on providing information that isn't accurate. And he had to back off of that. He just said, well, I was given that information. And what that shows you is when a president stands up and opens himself up to real questions from the media and follow-ups, he can retreat. 
 
 He was also asked twice about anti-Semitic incidents - swastikas on Jewish centers, things like that - that were committed by his supporters sometimes in his name. And he blamed those incidents on his opponents. Here's what he said. 
 
 (SOUNDBITES OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) 
 
 TRUMP: They'll do signs, and they'll do drawings that are inappropriate. It won't be my people. It will be the people on the other side to anger people like you. 
 
 LIASSON: So not taking any responsibility for that at all. 
 
 MCEVERS: Now, before I let you go, Mara, I mean you were there in the room, like you said - I mean any takeaways about, like, the mood there? What was the feeling in the East Room? 
 
 LIASSON: Well, I don't think we've ever seen a presidential press conference performance like this one. It was really extraordinary. He pretty much put himself on the couch, inadvertently or not. I think that he will get a lot of credit for doing this. I think it will thrill his supporters. I think if he was trying to show nervous Republicans on Capitol Hill that he's in control, that the dysfunction they've been complaining about from the White House isn't real, as he said, we're like a well-oiled machine. Whether he truly calmed the waters or not after a chaotic first month remains to be seen. 
 
 MCEVERS: That's NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Thank you very much. 
 
 LIASSON: Thank you. 
 
 Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. 
 
 NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. ||||| In Donald Trump’s America, the mere act of reporting news unflattering to the president is held up as evidence of bias. Journalists are slandered as “enemies of the people.” 
 
 Facts that contradict Trump’s version of reality are dismissed as “fake news.” Reporters and their news organizations are “pathetic,” “very dishonest,” “failing,” and even, in one memorable turn of phrase, "a pile of garbage.” 
 
 Trump is, of course, not the first American president to whine about the news media or try to influence coverage. President George W. Bush saw the press as elitist and “slick.” President Obama’s press operation tried to exclude Fox News reporters from interviews, blocked many officials from talking to journalists and, most troubling, prosecuted more national security whistle-blowers and leakers than all previous presidents combined. 
 
 But Trump being Trump, he has escalated the traditionally adversarial relationship in demagogic and potentially dangerous ways. 
 
 Support our journalism Become a subscriber today to support editorial writing like this. Start getting full access to our signature journalism for just 99 cents for the first four weeks. 
 
 Most presidents, irritated as they may have been, have continued to acknowledge — at least publicly — that an independent press plays an essential role in American democracy. They’ve recognized that while no news organization is perfect, honest reporting holds leaders and institutions accountable; that’s why a free press was singled out for protection in the 1st Amendment and why outspoken, unfettered journalism is considered a hallmark of a free country. 
 
 Trump doesn’t seem to buy it. On his very first day in office, he called journalists “among the most dishonest human beings on earth.” 
 
 Since then he has regularly condemned legitimate reporting as “fake news.” His administration has blocked mainstream news organizations, including The Times, from briefings and his secretary of State chose to travel to Asia without taking the press corps, breaking a longtime tradition. 
 
 “ He apparently hopes to discredit, disrupt or bully into silence anyone who challenges his version of reality. ” Share this quote 
 
 This may seem like bizarre behavior from a man who consumes the news in print and on television so voraciously and who is in many ways a product of the media. He comes from reality TV, from talk radio with Howard Stern, from the gossip pages of the New York City tabloids, for whose columnists he was both a regular subject and a regular source. 
 
 But Trump’s strategy is pretty clear: By branding reporters as liars, he apparently hopes to discredit, disrupt or bully into silence anyone who challenges his version of reality. By undermining trust in news organizations and delegitimizing journalism and muddling the facts so that Americans no longer know who to believe, he can deny and distract and help push his administration’s far-fetched storyline. 
 
 It’s a cynical strategy, with some creepy overtones. For instance, when he calls journalists “enemies of the people,” Trump (whether he knows it or not) echoes Josef Stalin and other despots. 
 
 But it’s an effective strategy. Such attacks are politically expedient at a moment when trust in the news media is as low as it’s ever been, according to Gallup. And they’re especially resonant with Trump’s supporters, many of whom see journalists as part of the swamp that needs to be drained. 
 
 Of course, we’re not perfect. Some readers find news organizations too cynical; others say we’re too elitist. Some say we downplay important stories, or miss them altogether. Conservatives often perceive an unshakable liberal bias in the media (while critics on the left see big, corporate-owned media institutions like The Times as hopelessly centrist). 
 
 “ The news media remain an essential component in the democratic process and should not be undermined by the president. ” Share this quote 
 
 To do the best possible job, and to hold the confidence of the public in turbulent times, requires constant self-examination and evolution. Soul-searching moments — such as those that occurred after the New York Times was criticized for its coverage of the Bush administration and the Iraq war or, more recently, when the media failed to take Trump’s candidacy seriously enough in the early days of his campaign — can help us do a better job for readers. Even if we are not faultless, the news media remain an essential component in the democratic process and should not be undermined by the president. 
 
 Some critics have argued that if Trump is going to treat the news media like the “opposition party” (a phrase his senior aide Steve Bannon has used), then journalists should start acting like opponents too. But that would be a mistake. The role of an institution like the Los Angeles Times (or the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or CNN) is to be independent and aggressive in pursuit of the truth — not to take sides. The editorial pages are the exception: Here we can and should express our opinions about Trump. But the news pages, which operate separately, should report intensively without prejudice, partiality or partisanship. 
 
 Given the very real dangers posed by this administration, we should be indefatigable in covering Trump, but shouldn’t let his bullying attitude persuade us to be anything other than objective, fair, open-minded and dogged. 
 
 The fundamentals of journalism are more important than ever. With the president of the United States launching a direct assault on the integrity of the mainstream media, news organizations, including The Times, must be courageous in our reporting and resolute in our pursuit of the truth. 
 
 This is the fourth in a series.
– President Trump ripped into the "dishonest" and "out of control" media during his press conference Thursday—and it didn't take long for the media to fire back. Fox News anchor Shepard Smith was among those who criticized the president, saying he "keeps repeating ridiculous throwaway lines that are not true at all and sort of avoiding this issue of Russia as if we're some kind of fools for asking the question," the Hill reports. Smith said Trump "owes it to the American people" to answer legitimate questions liked the ones about Russia that he dismissed as "fake news." But not all the reviews were so negative. A look at coverage: Yes, he was "combative," observes Mara Liasson at NPR, "but he was also funny and charming like he was with the press during all those years in New York as a fixture in the tabloids. ... I think that he will get a lot of credit for doing this. I think it will thrill his supporters." The Washington Post fact-checks what it describes as 15 "dubious claims" from the conference, including Trump's claim that he had the "biggest electoral college win since Reagan." Trump had a total of 304 electoral college votes, which ranks sixth in the eight elections since Reagan's 525-vote 1984 landslide. Only George W. Bush won with fewer than Trump. "I was given that information," Trump said when a reporter challenged him on the statement. The AP takes a close look at Trump's "I inherited a mess line" and decides the claim itself is messy. CNN contributor Jeffrey Lord, reacting to scathing reviews: “Lord, I think we saw two different press conferences," he said, per Raw Story. "From my perspective, I thought he was relaxed, he was funny, he was on point. He took the whole issue of the media, and he had a very candid conversation." Politico has an exhaustive list of the topics Trump covered during the 77-minute presser, ranging from nuclear holocaust to CNN, which he downgraded from "fake news" to "very fake news." BuzzFeed has video of one of the conference's most heavily commented upon moments: when Trump asked a black reporter if she could set up a meeting between him and the Congressional Black Caucus. Presidential historians tell the AP that no president, including Nixon during the Watergate scandal, has publicly turned on the press the way Trump did. "It was bizarre theater," says Rice University history professor Douglas Brinkley. "He turned a presidential press conference into a reality-TV show in which he can be the star and browbeat anyone who objects to him with the power of his office." GOP strategist and CNN contributor Alice Stewart also found a few things to praise in Trump's performance. "You can't say he's not responsive to the press," she tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "He answered all the questions from all over the press corps and put to rest the long-standing dialogue that he shuts down certain news outlets." Vox lists nine moments that it suggests back up Jake Tapper's description of the press conference as "wild" and "unhinged," including Trump's claim that "the leaks are real" but "the news is fake." Late-night hosts approached the press conference as gleefully as a kid unwrapping Christmas presents, and the Washington Post rounds up some of their best lines. "My guess is he did it because he's mad and he just wanted to blow off some steam," Jimmy Kimmel said. "The tone of the press conference was like if your dad found a pack of cigarettes under your mattress." David Graham at the Atlantic looks at the continual theme of complaint in the conference and wonders: Does Trump hate his new job?