President Trump's homeland security adviser defended the president's tweet Sunday morning showing him body-slamming and punching a person signifying CNN, saying “no one would perceive that as a threat.” 
 
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 Trump is "the most genuine president and the most nonpolitician president we’ve seen in my lifetime," Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday. 
 
 Raddatz asked if the tweet is "the kind of communication you want ... That seems like a threat," she added. 
 
 “Certainly not, though I think that no one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they don’t. I do think that [Trump is] beaten up in a way on cable platforms that he has a right to respond to,” Bossert replied. 
 
 The tweet included a GIF of a 2007 WWE incident where Trump body-slammed and repeatedly punched WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. The GIF that Trump tweeted superimposed the CNN logo on McMahon’s head. 
 
 Bossert, who saw the tweet for the first time live on "This Week," told Raddatz, “There’s a lot of cable new shows that reach directly into hundreds of thousands of viewers and they’re really not all very fair to the president. So I’m pretty proud of the president for developing a Twitter and a social media platform where he can talk directly to the American people.” 
 
 The homeland security adviser's defense of the tweet later drew criticism from Ana Navarro, a CNN contributor, on "This Week's" roundtable. 
 
 “I am disappointed beyond belief by the answer that the homeland security adviser just gave," Navarro said. "What a wuss. What a wuss. You could see that he is ceding his principles. You are the homeland security adviser and you can’t stand here and say the difference between right and wrong." 
 
 Navarro said the president's tweet "is an incitement to violence. He is going to get somebody killed in the media. Maybe that will stop him.” ||||| Donald Trump's policies took a back seat to his latest series of tweets this week, which left people questioning why he hasn't been suspended from the social media site. 
 
 The president's most recent attacks focused on CNN, or as he calls it, "FNN," the Fake News Network. 
 
 The video, which has left Twitter horrified, used the hashtags #FraudNewsCNN and #FNN and appears to be an edited version of a 2007 video showing Trump taking down WWE CEO Vince McMahon. This time, however, McMahon's head is the CNN logo. 
 
 It's definitely been an interesting week for the president on social media. After he attacked Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski on Thursday, she called on the Trump women to speak up about the president's vicious tweets. 
 
 And according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on June 29, a majority of Americans would like the president to stop tweeting. 
 
 Many are flocking to social media to air their grievances with Trump's offensive remarks — and they're calling for him to be banned from Twitter. 
 
 The hashtag #TwitterBanTrump has caught on. 
 
 According to Newsday, Twitter's anti-harassment rule reads, "You may not incite or engage in the targeted abuse or harassment of others.” William F.B. O'Reilly, author of the article and a consultant to the Republicans, wrote, "Keep in mind that a Twitter suspension is not the same thing as a ban. It's temporary; time in the penalty box." 
 
 But Trump doesn't see the need for any type of suspension. The president believes his tweets are fair game, and has taken to Twitter to defend all of his remarks. 
 
 Twitter's extensive rules and terms of service indicate what type of behavior is acceptable and what will not be tolerated. The site further states, 
 
 In order to protect the experience and safety of people who use Twitter, there are some limitations on the type of content and behavior that we allow. All users must adhere to the policies set forth in the Twitter Rules. Failure to do so may result in the temporary locking and/or permanent suspension of account(s). 
 
 First Lady Melania Trump has decided to make cyberbullying one of her main priorities. During the campaign, she said, according to CNN, "We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other." 
 
 But when it comes to her husband's statements, she believes he will punch back "10 times harder." ||||| OVER THE WEEKEND there was a fair bit of argument about the decision by a small restaurant in Lexington, Va., not to serve dinner to President Trump’s press secretary. It wasn’t the first time recently that strong political feelings have spilled into what used to be considered the private sphere. We understand the strength of the feelings, but we don’t think the spilling is a healthy development. 
 
 Sarah Huckabee Sanders was dining with a few other people at the Red Hen in Lexington Friday night. Several of the restaurant’s staff are gay and objected to Ms. Sanders’s defense of Mr. Trump’s discriminatory policies against transgender people. The staff also objected to the administration’s recent actions leading to the separation of thousands of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Respecting her staff’s wishes, the restaurant owner politely asked Ms. Sanders to leave, and Ms. Sanders politely acceded. She then tweeted about the episode, turning it into a public controversy. 
 
 This followed by a few days the very public heckling of two architects of that border policy, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, at Washington restaurants. Last month a Nebraska sociology professor was found guilty of vandalism for spraying false blood at the home of a National Rifle Association lobbyist in Alexandria. 
 
 It’s not a new tactic for protesters of one sort or another to target a public official’s home or private life. But never-at-rest social media have blurred the line between work hours and private time. Cellphone cameras make it ever easier to intrude and broadcast. 
 
 Most obviously, passions are running high. Those who defend the Red Hen staff, or Ms. Nielsen’s hecklers, say this is no ordinary policy dispute. Mr. Trump has ordered terrible violations of human rights at the border, he is demonizing immigrants by his actions and his rhetoric, and people need to speak up however they can. 
 
 They will get no argument from us regarding Mr. Trump’s border policy, and when it comes to coarsening the debate, he is the prime offender. The poisonous fruits could be seen, as it happens, Saturday morning in a vile tweet from Ms. Sanders’s father, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, that associated House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, with the vicious MS-13 gang. 
 
 We nonetheless would argue that Ms. Huckabee, and Ms. Nielsen and Mr. Miller, too, should be allowed to eat dinner in peace. Those who are insisting that we are in a special moment justifying incivility should think for a moment how many Americans might find their own special moment. How hard is it to imagine, for example, people who strongly believe that abortion is murder deciding that judges or other officials who protect abortion rights should not be able to live peaceably with their families? 
 
 Down that road lies a world in which only the most zealous sign up for public service. That benefits no one. ||||| 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.
– President Trump escalated his Twitter war with CNN on Sunday, and in the process sparked more concern that he is advocating the use of violence against members of the media, the Hill reports. The president tweeted a modified video of a 2007 WWE wrestling match he took part in, obscuring his opponent's head with the CNN logo, which he proceeds to beat with his fists. Trump tweeted the video with the hashtags "#FraudNewsCNN" and "#FNN." A CNN spokesman called it "a sad day when the president of the United States encourages violence against reporters." But on ABC News, Homeland Security adviser Tom Bossert suggested CNN and other critics were overreacting. "No one would perceive that as a threat," he said, adding that Trump is "beaten up in a way on cable platforms that he has a right to respond to." The new video comes just a few days after Trump posted two tweets in which he talked about MSNBC's Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski "bleeding badly from a face-lift." Those tweets sparked condemnation from all over the political spectrum, with even Trump's fellow Republicans calling them unpresidential. On Saturday, however, Trump took to Twitter once again to address the backlash, writing, "My use of social media is not Presidential – it's MODERN DAY presidential," Politico reports. At a press conference Thursday, Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump "no way, form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence," the Washington Post reports. "In fact quite the contrary."