April 8, 2018

NBC host Chuck Todd on Sunday called out Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro after he attacked the news media and called The Washington Post "fake news."

During an interview on Meet the Press, Todd asked Navarro about a Washington Post report which suggests that Chief of Staff John Kelly's role in the White House has been diminished.

Navarro called Kelly a "great man" who "has the president's ear."

"That's all I know, that's all I see," the trade adviser opined. "And when you read stuff in The Washington Post, frankly, that's fake news most of the time."

"I think that expression is a pretty unfair thing to say about a major news organization," Todd replied. "That's a cheap shot."

"Mr. Todd, that is not a cheap shot," Navarro fired back. "Because if you look at the newspapers that I read every day across the spectrum, The Washington Post, in my judgment, tends to attack the president more than any other newspaper in its news stories."

"You can do anything you want in your editorials, sir, but you cannot do that in your news stories," he added.

Todd cut him off: "The term 'fake news' is not exactly a way to hold up the First Amendment, especially when the Russian government, just this morning, is using that phrase."

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon