President Donald Trump slammed CNN on Saturday morning and accused the network of making a "vicious and intentional mistake" after it was forced to correct a flawed report on Friday about the Trump campaign getting advance information about WikiLeaks.
Trump sent out two tweets attacking the network and even took another shot at ABC News reporter Brian Ross, who was recently suspended for four weeks, after he falsely reported Trump directed Michael Flynn, his future national security adviser, to make contact with the Russians during the presidential campaign.
"Fake News CNN made a vicious and purposeful mistake yesterday. They were caught red handed, just like lonely Brian Ross at ABC News (who should be immediately fired for his "mistake")," Trump tweeted. Watch to see if @CNN fires those responsible, or was it just gross incompetence?"
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/939480342779580416
"CNN’S slogan is CNN, THE MOST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS. Everyone knows this is not true, that this could, in fact, be a fraud on the American Public. There are many outlets that are far more trusted than Fake News CNN. Their slogan should be CNN, THE LEAST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS!" Trump wrote.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/939485131693322240
The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal threw cold water on the CNN story hours after it was published and noted it got the date wrong in its reporting about when the Trump campaign received the email about Wikileaks.
"Candidate Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and others in the Trump Organization received an email in September 2016 offering a decryption key and website address for hacked WikiLeaks documents, according to an email provided to congressional," the report said.
CNN's report "indicated that the Trump campaign could access records from former Secretary of State Colin Powell, whose hacked emails were made public by a Russian front group 10 days later."
However, the Post reported hours later that CNN got the date wrong and noted it received the email ten days later on Sept. 14, after Powell's leaked emails were already released.
CNN's Manu Raju went on air to offer a correction on the story over two hours after the Post cast doubt on the flawed report.
"This appears to change the understanding of this story, because initially it seemed perhaps they were being offered access to documents that were not yet publicly available," he explained.
The network also updated its online story and tweeted the correction.
CNN's initial reporting of the date on an email sent to members of the Trump campaign about Wikileaks documents, which was confirmed by two sources to CNN, was incorrect. We have updated our story to include the correct date, and present the proper context for the timing of email
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) December 8, 2017