Trump falsely claims CNN did not cover him refusing question from Acosta at UK press conference

President Trump on Saturday falsely claimed that CNN did not report on his snub of the network’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta at an international news conference the previous day.

At a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday, Trump refused to take a question from Acosta, saying he does not take questions from the “fake news” network, before offering a question to Fox News instead.

“So funny! I just checked out Fake News CNN, for the first time in a long time (they are dying in the ratings), to see if they covered my takedown yesterday of Jim Acosta (actually a nice guy),” Trump tweeted. “They didn’t! But they did say I already lost in my meeting with Putin. Fake News.”

So funny! I just checked out Fake News CNN, for the first time in a long time (they are dying in the ratings), to see if they covered my takedown yesterday of Jim Acosta (actually a nice guy). They didn’t! But they did say I already lost in my meeting with Putin. Fake News……

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2018

But the incident was widely covered, including by CNN, who featured Acosta reacting directly and suggesting that the president’s comment itself was “fake news.”{mosads}

“Well he does take questions from CNN, he took a question from me in Singapore at the conclusion of his summit with Kim Jong Un, but putting that aside, perhaps his own version of fake news there in saying that,” Acosta said.

Acosta went on to say that he asked a question of the president as he and May were leaving the conference, this time with more success.

“I asked, ‘Mr. President, will you tell Putin to stay out of U.S. elections?’ and he did turn around and say, ‘yes.’ ” Acosta said.

Trump is scheduled to meet one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki later this week.

Trump has repeatedly clashed with Acosta during past press conferences and events, and continually criticizes CNN. In a second tweet on Saturday, he took a shot at the network’s president, Jeff Zucker.

“Remember, it was Little Jeff Z and his people, who are told exactly what to say, who said I could not win the election in that “there was no way to 270” (over & over again) in the Electoral College. I got 306! They were sooooo wrong in their election coverage,” he tweeted. “Still hurting!”

….Remember, it was Little Jeff Z and his people, who are told exactly what to say, who said I could not win the election in that “there was no way to 270” (over & over again) in the Electoral College. I got 306! They were sooooo wrong in their election coverage. Still hurting!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2018