McConnell: ‘Most news is not fake’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) defended the media on Monday, just hours after President Trump lashed out at “fake news” on Twitter. 

“My view is that most news is not fake, but I do try to look at a variety of sources,” McConnell said at a Louisville Chamber of Commerce event when asked what publications he reads amid “accusations and counteraccusations about fake news.”

The Senate GOP leader added that he gets synopses that round up what’s being reported every morning.

“I try not to fall in love with any particular source,” he said.

{mosads}McConnell didn’t mention, and wasn’t asked about, the president’s frequent criticism of the media.

But his comments — made during a Q&A with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — highlight one of the divisions between tight-lipped GOP senator and Trump’s yearslong feud with the press. 

Trump earlier Monday had praised evangelical Christian leader Jerry Falwell Jr. for defending Trump’s response to violence earlier this month at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., while criticizing the “fake news media.”

Thank you, the very dishonest Fake News Media is out of control! https://t.co/8J7y900VGK

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2017

Jerry Falwell of Liberty University was fantastic on @foxandfriends. The Fake News should listen to what he had to say. Thanks Jerry!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2017