President Donald Trump's presidential campaign said on Monday that CNN refused to run its ad celebrating the president's first 100 days in office, calling the decision "absolutely shameful."
"It is absolutely shameful to see the media blocking the positive message that President Trump is trying to share with the country," said the campaign's executive director Michael Glassner. "It's clear that CNN is trying to silence our voice and censor our free speech because it doesn't fit their narrative."
The campaign says that CNN's decision not to run the ad, "First 100 Days," was because the network "takes issue with the ad’s message calling out the mainstream media for peddling fake news and not reporting on the fact that President Trump is making America great again."
The ad explicitly labels numerous mainstream media reporters, including CNN's Wolf Blitzer, as "Fake News," as can be seen in a screen capture of the ad below.
"You wouldn't know it from watching the news," says the ad. "America is winning."
President Trump echoed the message from his campaign on Twitter over the weekend, writing that the "mainstream (FAKE) media refuses to state our long list of achievements, including 28 legislative signings, strong borders & great optimism."
CNN confirmed the campaign's accusation on Tuesday morning, stating that the ad is false because the "mainstream media is not fake news."
"CNN requested that the advertiser remove the false graphic that says the mainstream media is 'fake news,'" the network said in a statement. "The mainstream media is not fake news, and therefore the ad is false."
"Per our policy, it will be accepted only if that graphic is deleted," it said. "Those are the facts."
UPDATE 11:22 a.m.: This story has been updated to include CNN's statement that it is not fake news.