Over the last 24 hours, Donald Trump has once again continued his attack on the alleged "fake news" media following an NBC News report regarding Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. In response, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was quick to come to the president's defense.
Sanders on 'fake news'
On Wednesday morning, NBC News broke a bombshell story that exposed the alleged rift between Donald Trump and Rex Tillerson.
According to the report, Tillerson nearly resigned over the summer, while getting into a heated argument with the president, going as far as calling him a "f**king moron." As expected, the former host of "The Apprentice" and his team denied the allegations, with Trump lashing out on Twitter on more than one occasion to attack NBC News, as well as the media in general. Trump labeled the network "fake news," claiming they were "more dishonest than even CNN" and a "disgrace to good reporting." Not stopping there, Trump doubled down on Thursday morning, ranting again on Twitter and calling on Congress to investigate the media.
These issues, and more, were discussed during the October 5 press briefing at the White House, as reported by CBS News.
During Thursday's White House press briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Donald Trump's social media outburst, while getting into a heated exchange with reporters. Sanders explained that Trump has "great frustration with the fact that a lot of times you have inaccurate information that’s being presented as factual." Sanders continued her attack, claiming that the media has "opinions that are being presented as news and they’re not."
Sarah Huckabee Sanders then clashed with Jim Acosta of CNN who pressed her on whether or not Donald Trump "valued" the First Amendment.
Sanders responded "absolutely," before telling the media in attendance that they "have a responsibility to tell the truth" and "to be accurate."
Twitter reacts
In response to the press briefing, critics of the president wasted no time firing back. "Sarah Huckabee Sanders just said only 5% of the mainstream news coverage is pro-Trump. Someone please explain NEWS vs. PR to these morons," one tweet read.
"I like how (SHS) is lecturing journalists on what 'news" & 'facts' are when she lies daily for a pathological lying moron," one Twitter user wrote. "Here goes Sarah Huckabee Sanders using victims of the Las Vegas shooting as propaganda to praise her King, she can talk about that right?" an additional tweet added.
"Is it just me or does Sarah Huckabee Sanders seem like she'd be super easy to Catfish?" comedian Lena Dunham posted. "(SHS) lecturing journalists to tell the truth is a little too much bullsh*t for me to handle this week," yet another social media user added. As the backlash continued, the opposition to Donald Trump and the White House only got worse.