In the hours before Donald Trump was set to address Congress for the first time on Tuesday night, anonymous sources from the White House told members of the media that the president was willing to accept a more moderate tone on immigration. Less than 24 hours later, and it appears that the administration never had that in their plans.
Trump trouble
When President Donald Trump first announced his campaign for president, he quickly focused on immigration reform. After referring to illegal immigrants from Mexico as "murderers" and "rapists," the media was quick to go on the attack.
In the year and a half since then, Trump and the press have been at odds, with the tension growing by the day. On Tuesday, reporters were told at a White House luncheon that the president was getting ready to take steps back and compromise on immigration, marking a drastic change in message from his polices and rhetoric during the campaign. Trump was expected to address the issue during his speech to Congress, but it never came. As reported by Mediaite on March 1, CNN has confirmed that the information given to the press was all done to mislead the media.
REPORT: White House Lied to Journalists About Trump Speech in 'Misdirection Play' https://t.co/a874Sj7DQx (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/JtXdSpwgRS
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) March 1, 2017
CNN reporter Sara Murray spoke about the White House's plan on immigration with host John King on Wednesday, and confirmed that the Donald Trump administration told the press what they wanted to hear as part of a "misdirection play." Taking a more moderate approach on immigration was apparently never in the cards for the White House, and was only told to reporters as part of a "bait and switch." "They fed up things that they thought these anchors would like, that they thought would give them positive press coverage for the next few hours," Murray said.
JUST IN: President Trump will not sign his revised immigration executive order tomorrow. It has been delayed until later in the week.
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) March 1, 2017
Controversy continues
In response to the news, CNN host Jon King wasn't pleased, and questioned whether the media could ever trust the White House in the future.
"It does make you wonder," King said, before stating, "so we're not supposed to believe what they say?" "Maybe we shouldn’t believe what they say," King went on to say. The war of words between Donald Trump and the press doesn't appear to be ending anytime soon, and reached a fever pitch last week when the commander in chief banned several news outlets, including CNN, from covering a press briefing at the White House.
