CNN on Monday refused to show images of President Donald Trump signing his latest executive order that targets Muslim travelers. Weeks after a federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order banning travel from seven majority-Muslim countries, Trump on Monday issued a scaled down order that exempts green card holders, people with existing visas and travelers from Iraq. But CNN refused to broadcast images of the president signing the order because he banned the media from the event amid ongoing questions about Russian involvement in the U.S. election and a controversy over whether Trump lied when he recently claimed that former President Barack Obama was monitoring his phone calls in Trump Tower.
And apparently, an all-out war is about to break out, because neither the billionaire businessman nor the media giant seem to show any signs of backing down. Speaking with Internet portal KnowMyRepublican.com, President Trump threatened to issue a “permanent ban on CNN entering the White House for press conferences or in any other capacity” until the network agrees to show pictures of him signing the latest travel ban.
“I understand they’re after me and that they’re capable of holding a grudge, but this is something that started off as my attempt to protect the people of America and has since grown into a personal battle between us. I’m not going to allow it. Donald Trump has never been a pushover and I don’t plan on starting now,” he said.
A spokesperson for the CNN said in a separate interview that the network “has no intention whatsoever of catering to the wishes of a megalomaniac,” as well as that the people of America “only need protection from its delusional president.”
“I’m not going to go on another rant about how this is a country that was built by immigrants and, therefore, belongs to them; however, I will say that the rhetoric our new president is resorting to, though apparently very effective with people who have a lower degree of education and common sense, won’t work when it comes to well educated Americans, such as news reporters and journalists, and particularly those currently employed by the CNN. If we’re guilty of anything, it’s that we’re simply doing the same thing as him – eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,” the spokesperson argued.
Asked to comment on CNN’s allegations further, the President Trump said that he “has no intention of backing down” from what he believes to be a personal crusade against him organized by the mainstream media.
“I never ever divided the American people into well-educated and stupid individuals, those words never came out of my mouth. You won’t find a recording of that anywhere, just like you won’t find anything else that has me saying or claiming I divide the American people into anything,” Trump said. “It’s the mainstream media houses – precisely like the CNN – who are making these fictional divisions and then pinning the responsibility on me. That’s exactly why I banned them from the signing of the new travel ban, and that’s also why I’m going to continue denying access to them and everybody else who follows the same pattern of behavior.”
“That is, unless they decide to change and start doing their actual job, which is report news honestly and truthfully. Let me tell you, I’ve gone through so much in my life, I’ve had a tremendously interesting life and I have no problem signing another executive order that permanently bans all the so-called mainstream media – who are actually on Barack Obama and Crooked Hillary’s payroll – from attending another White House press conference. If they want to stop that from happening, all they have to do is show pictures of me signing the revised travel ban, and we can start getting along quite nicely. This is not me blackmailing them into giving me what I want; this is me doing the presidential thing and getting them to do their actual job. If you recall, that’s also what Kennedy was doing before he was assassinated. Funny how that works, huh?” President Trump concluded.
