President Donald Trump speaks at the Justice Department in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (Pool via AP) (Image: AP)
President Donald Trump has launched a scathing attack on the news media during a speech at the Justice Department on Friday, accusing CNN and MSNBC of being extensions of the Democratic Party and engaging in illegal activities.
“And I believe that CNN and MSDNC, who literally write 97.6% bad about me are political arms of the Democrat Party and in my opinion they’re really corrupt and they’re illegal, what they do is illegal,” Trump declared.
Journalist Aaron Rupar took to social media platform X to react to Trump’s remarks, labelling him as having gone “full fascist.”
Trump’s history of confronting the press includes a lawsuit against CBS over a ’60 Minutes’ interview with then Democratic Presidential Nominee , which he claimed was edited to her benefit. CBS defended its journalistic practices, stating that edits are made for time, space, and clarity while adhering to truth and informative content within the limits of broadcast television.
Despite CBS News maintaining its innocence, parent company Paramount is reportedly in settlement discussions, as executives seek Trump administration approval for a sale to entertainment company Skydance.
Journalist Aaron Rupar took to social media platform X to react to Trump’s remarks, labelling him as having gone “full fascist.” (Image: Getty Images)
CBS last month released the unedited transcripts of its October interview with Harris, which had sparked a lawsuit. The network claimed that these transcripts proved that its broadcast was not “doctored or deceitful” as Trump had alleged in a $10 billion lawsuit he filed against CBS in November.
This lawsuit is reportedly still under negotiation. Separately, the Federal Communications Commission requested CBS to provide transcripts and clips of the interview last week, which CBS complied with before making them public on Wednesday.
The interview with the Democratic presidential candidate, parts of which were aired on “60 Minutes” and “Face the Nation,” drew attention due to clips showing her giving varying answers to a question about posed by correspondent Bill Whitaker. However, CBS maintained that the material it released was “consistent with ’60 Minutes” repeated assurances to the public, that the ’60 Minutes’ broadcast was not doctored or deceitful,” according to a statement from the network.
Last year, Trump also settled a lawsuit against ABC News over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate on-air claim that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
ABC News agreed to contribute $15 million towards Trump’s presidential library to settle the defamation lawsuit.