President Donald Trump slammed NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday, suggesting she acted as a "P.R. person" for former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Trump said in an interview with New York Times reporters Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman on Wednesday that the controversy surrounding Susan Rice and her alleged requests to "unmask" Trump associates would become a "massive, massive story."
Trump referenced Rice's Tuesday interview with Mitchell, saying Rice did a "horrible" job and that Mitchell was "Hillary Clinton's P.R. person."
"Take a look at what’s happening. I mean, first of all her performance was horrible yesterday on television even though she was interviewed by Hillary Clinton’s P.R. person, Andrea Mitchell. Course you’ve been accused of that also," Trump told the Times reporters.
In her Tuesday interview on "Andrea Mitchell Reports," Rice refuted claims that the Obama administration used intelligence reports for "political purposes." According to a Bloomberg report on Monday, Rice allegedly sought on several occasions to identify the names of Trump associates in intelligence reports.
Mitchell received similar criticism from White House social media director Dan Scavino, who branded her as a Democratic "P.R. person" the day before Trump's comments to the Times, according to the Washington Examiner.
Scavino slammed Mitchell on Twitter for giving a "softball interview" to Rice, and said Mitchell had "no credibility."
Lyin', leakin' Susan Rice stammered through her soft ball interview with Dem PR person Andrea Mitchell.
— Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) April 4, 2017
Andrea Mitchell is trying her best to help Susan Rice get through this interview. No credibility!
— Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) April 4, 2017
Neither MSNBC nor NBC responded to the Examiner's request for comment.