From the May 13 edition of Fox News' Justice with Judge Jeanine:
On Fox, Trump Threatens To End Daily Press Briefings Because The Press Has “A Level Of Hostility That's Incredible”
Trump: Cable News Networks “Get Ratings Because Of Me And Yet They Don't Treat Us Fairly”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
Video file
JEANINE PIRRO (HOST): Your agenda is not getting out because people are caught up on the Comey issue and ridiculous stuff.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I agree. I agree. I agree.
PIRRO: How do you get rid of Comey? Who in your press office says one thing, the vice president says another thing. How do we resolve that?
TRUMP: Well, that's an interesting situation. I actually said today, let's not ever do any more press briefings. They're getting tremendous ratings. And, especially the fake media, they're going crazy. They are going crazy. And they'll be in the room, and you have to see, the way they ask questions, I want, I want, screaming and there's never been anything like this. To get like a question out. And in all fairness to Sean [Spicer], and in fairness to Sarah Huckabee [Sanders], and in all fairness [to] anybody who stood up there, they don't know me. I'm a very active president. I'm dealing with China, I'm dealing with Japan, I'm dealing with North Korea. I'm dealing with all of these different things. Russia came in to see me, the foreign minister, the other day. And right after that, they didn't say this, but right after that the foreign minister from Ukraine came in. I said, fellas you got to make peace. You got to get peace. They only talked about Russia coming in, OK. And we took pictures, they took pictures. We released the pictures. They made a big deal out of it. Everybody knew he was coming. And he was scheduled to come. But they didn't talk about Ukraine. The point is this, when we have those press conferences, I actually said we shouldn't have them because Sarah Huckabee --
PIRRO: One hundred years we've been doing it. You can't put an end to that.
TRUMP: No, no -- but there's never been action like this. This is crazy. I mean, we're getting higher ratings on those press conferences.
PIRRO: But would you usually consider stopping these press sessions?
TRUMP: No, we do it in a different way.
PIRRO: How?
TRUMP: We do it through a piece of paper with a perfectly accurate, beautiful answer. I'll give you an example.
PIRRO: In writing?
TRUMP: They asked 100 questions or 50 questions or 20 questions. If they get one out of 50 just a little bit off, 5 percent, 10 percent, 20 percent, the next day it's a front-page story in every newspaper.
PIRRO: Right. So?
TRUMP: Now, press conferences weren't even covered for Obama, practically. They were on C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2, there was nothing going on.
PIRRO: But will you put an end to them?
TRUMP: These press conferences are like the biggest thing on daytime television, OK.
PIRRO: They are. Yes.
TRUMP: You see the ratings. They're blowing away everything, on just about, I think, everything, on daytime television. What I'd love to do is stop them. It's not fair to the people. I’ll give you -- look, I am a very active person. I have a lot of very positive things going on right up here for this country. It's impossible for a person or two people or three people who are press people to cover every aspect of what I'm thinking or what I am doing. And I think it's unfair. And, if they get it just a little bit wrong, they don't mean to, they're liars, they're liars, they're horrible people, they're liars, the press goes. And it becomes a big story for two days or three days. And it's very, very unfair to a person in that job. I think that’s really a tough job, to be honest. Especially for me because I'm having meeting after meeting, I'm cutting the price of the airplanes with Lockheed [Martin]. I'm cutting the price of airplanes with Boeing. I'm doing all of these things. I'm making deals for China, with China. I'm trying to solve a problem in North Korea, which by the way is a really big problem.
PIRRO: I want to get into North Korea. But are you moving so quickly that your communications department cannot keep up with you?
TRUMP: Yes, that's true.
PIRRO: So what do we do about that? Because --
TRUMP: We don't have press conferences. And we do --
PIRRO: You don't mean that.
TRUMP: Just don't have them, unless I have them every two weeks and I do it myself. We don't have them. I think it's a good idea. First of all, you have a level of hostility that's incredible. And it's very unfair. Sarah Huckabee is a lovely young woman. You know Sean Spicer, he is a wonderful human being. He's a nice man.
PIRRO: Is he your press secretary today and tomorrow, will he be tomorrow?
TRUMP: Yeah, he is, sure. He is. Well, he's doing a good job, but he gets beat up.
PIRRO: Will he be there tomorrow?
TRUMP: Well, he's been there from the beginning.
PIRRO: Is he [out of] the woods?
TRUMP: He's getting beaten up by these people. He just gets beat up by these people. And again, they don't show the 90 questions that they asked and answered properly. If they are off just a little bit, just a little bit, it’s a big story.
PIRRO: When will you make a decision as to whetther or not you will keep having them?
TRUMP: And here’s the thing. The difference between me and another president, I won't use names. But another president doesn't do what I am doing. They really don't. I'm not saying that in a bragging way. I'm not saying it any way. Another president, Jeanine, will sit in the Oval Office and do practically nothing all day. I'm doing -- every minute of the day, I'm doing something. I'm cutting prices, this nation has such unbelievable potential. The thing is, they can't keep up with it. And I'll be honest, they do their best. If they give an answer and if it's a little bit off, they're liars and horrible things. It is really unfair. So I would recommend we don't have it.
PIRRO: It is unprecedented. When will you make that decision?
TRUMP: Over the next couple of weeks. I'll tell you what. They will be very unhappy, because the ratings are so high that I don't know what these networks are going to do. They're going to start to cry. They get free ratings because of me and yet they don't treat us fairly.
Previously:
Spicer Shuts Down Press Briefing Following Questions About His International Incident