Dan Rather, the legendary news anchor who once had a rather infamous confrontation with President Richard Nixon as the Watergate scandal unfolded, says there’s a lot that is “chilling” about President-elect Donald Trump’s first press conference of the year.

During the conference Trump was his usual combative self, refusing to take a question from CNN Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta. Then as Acosta persisted, repeatedly asking and virtually pleading with the President-elect to take his question, while noting that he had attacked the accuracy of CNN’s reporting, Trump pointed his finger at Acosta and declared, “You are fake news.”

Rather: Trump's speeches 'briar patches of mendacity'

Besides describing the President-elect as "fuming," Rather blasted his conduct at the press conference and issued words of caution in how to deal with the media.

“The specter of the fuming President-elect railing against fake news, this from a man who had promoted for years the lie that President Barack Obama was not American and whose speeches on the campaign trail were often briar patches of mendacity - was an irony verging on Shakespearean tragedy,” Rather wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday. “But if Mr. Trump and his inner circle think that this type of authoritarian behavior will cow the press, I think they will find it will only embolden us.”

Rather, who spent a little more than four decades with CBS News, both as the network’s evening news anchor and earlier as its White House reporter, had a notable but considerably less confrontational exchange with Richard Nixon when he was called upon by Nixon during a presidential press conference in the spring of 1974.

When Nixon asked Rather "Are you running for something?" Rather replied, "No, sir, Mr. President. Are you?" Rather, who went on to ask Nixon a question about the developing Watergate scandal later acknowledged that he regretted his remark.

Rather is a regular critic of Trump

Rather has been a frequent and regular critic of Trump, including how the President-elect uses Twitter to attack his opponents.

Rather posted on his Facebook page earlier this month that Trump was making “news as fast as he can tweet,” while also noting the challenge Trump’s tweets pose for journalists, asking “How do you deal with a president-elect, and soon-to-be president, who regularly Tweets untrue, inflammatory or intimidating statements?”

Meanwhile, Trump on Thursday continued to take to Twitter throughout the day, including another tweet attacking CNN, and again accusing the network of issuing fake news.
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