White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that the report that President Trump elected not to wear a translating device at a G-7 meeting was an example of "fake news" that undermines the media's credibility.
A BBC reporter tweeted out a video on Saturday that claimed Trump wasn't bothering to listen to a translation of an Italian speech, but it turned out Trump was wearing a single earpiece. However, the original false report was retweeted thousand of times and shared by other reporters before the correction.
Asked about the White House's communications performance so far during the administration, Spicer said he and Trump both got frustrated by stories that are "patently false" or examples of "fake news." Asked by CNN's Jim Acosta to give an example, Spicer pointed to the earpiece saga.
"The president did a great job at NATO, building stronger bonds at the G-7, increasing America's presence around the world, and that's the kind of thing that the BBC and ultimately a reporter who's now joining the New York Times push out and perpetuate with no apology?" Spicer asked.
Acosta said "reporters make mistakes."
"That's just fake," Spicer said.
Reporter Peter Baker said Spicer was boiling the trip down to a single tweet and ignoring the good reporting that had been done.
"I was asked to give an example, and I did it," Spicer said.
When another reporter requested a "big" example of a fake story, Spicer sounded irritated and went after the use of anonymous sources on stories that have been damaging to the Trump administration.
"I didn't come here with a list of things ... You get to decide what's big and what's not?" he asked. "There's a lot of this stuff that has gotten pushed out based on unnamed, unaccountable sources that is very troubling, and I think when you see the same kind of thing happen over and over again, it is concerning."