BROOKE BALDWIN (HOST): Stelter, this is directed at you. [White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders] said, “we see a problem with any story that's opinion that's put out as fact.” So, Brian Stelter, isn't that basically Fox News, the president's go-to TV channel?
BRIAN STELTER: Indeed. The president has not given news interviews on TV since May. What he does is he goes to his friends. Not even the news journalists on Fox News, but his friends on the opinion side and speaks with them. So, I hope the next time the president is interviewed, we'll get an answer to this question about whether he actually wants Senate investigators to look into the editorial processes of American news organizations. I think he was just venting this morning, Brooke, blowing off steam. But it's newsworthy because the president continues to try to distract from the Russia investigations, continues to try to say it is not a big deal, it is not real news, it is not important.
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So when you see the president attacking the -- what he says is the “fake news media” -- he's really trying to divert attention. And I thought it was disappointing Sanders didn't have a fulsome answer on what the president actually wants. But here we see the White House, once again, dismissing the bipartisan agreements about the importance of the Russia investigations and the seriousness of Russian interference. In fact, at one point, Brooke, we heard Sanders basically say there's no difference between a mistake made by a news outlet like The New York Times or CNN, versus the kind of fake news propaganda that was spread by Russia. She was given a couple chances to say, “oh, those are two different things,” but she didn't do that. The president continues to use that “fake news” slur.
