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Okay. So, you guys know Donald Trump. I have to start today and say I love something. Hola. Whoever says hola and Hawaii, hello. I love when folks say, 'You know what? Donald Trump f***ed around and found out.' Donald Trump, this is, I mean, careful what you ask for, because he said he didn't want certain members of the media there, and they said okay, and then they left, and then they said, you know what, we're not supplying the pool feed. Now, this should have happened a long time ago. I sadly, I don't, well, anyway, it should have happened a long time ago. So, this is what happened today. The president is a big thing. It would usually be all over, live on every cable show and everything, and instead this happened. Watch.
The ramifications are right here. Can't hear what the president's saying.
Yeah. There.
Okay. So, there is no microphone because there's no microphone because the pool cameras aren't there. So, maybe, Tim, this is one example of it backfiring just a little bit. Pick up on some of the things.
I mean, can we please, Joanna? Can we just play that just one more time, please? Just one more time. One more time.
Yeah, there.
Okay. So, there is no microphone because there's no microphone because the pool cameras aren't there. So, maybe, Tim, this is one example of it backfiring just a little bit.
My stomach is hurting. I'm sorry.
I needed that laugh and so did you. So did you. Someone said third time's a charm. I mean, it doesn't get any better. So he asked for it and he got it. Careful what you ask for. Or as we say in this day and age, FAFO, which is f*** around and find out. And this is what he, look, I don't even think he needs a judge to make a decision at this point because as soon as he realizes that, oh my god, I won't be out, guess what? He cannot, when it's like this, get out there and spread his lies in front of everybody live because there's no pool, and that means what? There's no audio. And I don't know, maybe some of the folks who stayed there, they're still there, but there's no pool, and the pool has to plug in and give it to everybody. So, whoops.
Oh, I'm glad I'm starting you off with a good one. So, look, but just in case all of you needed reminding that Donald Trump loves to talk about himself. He loves to see himself on television. He has a problem with journalists and the media, but it wasn't always that way. At one point he loved the media when it was helping him become Donald Trump, when it was helping him be, you know, real estate, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, all of that, right? If you're old enough, for those of you who are old enough to remember, guest appearances on Law and Order, I think, but they talked about him. I'm not ever sure if he appeared on that. And then Home Alone and all kinds of other things, right? He cultivated reporters. He even pretended to be his own press person. Remember the John Barron thing? He courted the tabloids. He planted stories. He chased headlines. And he used every camera that he could find to turn his name into a brand. I, like so many others, know him. And I've interviewed him several times. And there are even photos out there of me with him. It's on the internet. I mean, it's on it from social media. I posted them back in the day of me at Trump Tower interviewing him. And he used the press to help build the myth. And in doing so, he happily cashed all the checks that came with it and he basked in all the accolades.
But now that reporters are asking real questions instead of really just printing flattering gossip stories about him, suddenly they're enemies. Suddenly news organizations that he doesn't like are being locked out of the White House. How convenient. Trump does not hate the media. He just hates the scrutiny. He loves reporters when they're feeding his ego. And I told you there's a certain art to interviewing him. I won't share it anymore to stop giving away my secrets. He attacks reporters when they're exposing his shitty style of leadership. And then insults, well, they don't, silent, he insults don't silence him. He uses the presidency to punish them. If they're not silenced by his insults, he will punish you with the presidency or access. That's what people are really afraid of, losing access. That's what the networks are afraid of, and that he won't sign off on their mergers. Not because they are bad at their jobs, but because some of them are actually doing their jobs. They ask questions. They interrupt the performance. Some demand specifics. And when the president does not like the question, he attacks the person asking it. His behavior is that of a playground bully, of a child, a playground bully who owns the building and thinks that he can confiscate the microphone when he doesn't like the question. Okay, are you ready? Watch this.
Sir, Mr. President, earlier today you posted that you intend to ban CNN, Politico, and MSNBC now from the White House. Every president takes an oath to uphold the Constitution, which includes the First Amendment. I do. How do you...
Much more so than you.
Because they're fake news. I get so tired of reading and seeing fake news. When you look at CNN, it's just fake. That's why their ratings are no good. When you look at MSNBC now, which used to be MSNBC, which some people call MSDNC, Democratic National Committee, it's fake news. It's fake news. And excuse me, excuse me. And when you look at Politico, I mean, they got a government, the government under Biden gave them like 8 million to keep them afloat. And the stories they wrote are fake. So, there's a lot of news and there may be others to join them and maybe they can get better and we would like to have them in, but our country has to have honest news. You know, you don't have a country unless you have, as I say, borders, good voting. We're straightening them out. The borders are unbelievable. Nobody's come into our country in the last 17 months illegally. But you need borders and you need fair, free voting. And you know what you need? You need a free press. You need a fair press and an honest press. And CNN, and you know it and everybody knows it. You're intelligent. I've known you a long time. You know how fake their reporting is. It's one-sided. It's never good. I've done many, many... Look at this story today about favored nations on drugs. We lowered the drug prices by 50, 60, 70 percent. They won't even put it, if they put it on, it'll be a blip. They will find a reason why that's a negative. Okay. Yeah.
Okay. So, here's the thing.
It's the Oval Office here. The White House is not Trump Tower. It does not belong to Donald Trump. It belongs to the American people. And press access is not a presidential reward for favorable coverage. The First Amendment does not come with a loyalty test. The reporter you heard there was asking legitimate questions about government policy. His response was to insult, to attempt to shut them down, to obfuscate. And notice how often this aggression is directed at women who refuse to be intimidated. Check this one out.
Quiet. You're very disrespectful in front of this young man. Okay. Don't you find her disrespectful? He understands. Quiet. Who are you with?
CNN.
Fake news. You're fake news. You're a loud, you're a loud, boisterous person. You're fake news. Be quiet. Be quiet. Be quiet. I asked you.
You're a fake reporter and you report fake news. Go ahead.
Mr. President.
Okay, here's the thing though. Oh my god, I could not be there. You are a fake reporter. Now, Mr. President, with all due respect, I am a professional adult just like you are. What if I called you a fake president? How would you like that? And then he'd come back with some and just, just stand up. Just continue. Now, I respect the reporter for just continuing to ask the question, but for someone like Donald Trump, you have to get your attention. He is a bully, and if he insults you, then you insult him. What if I spoke to you like that and said you're a fake president? You get mad when people say you're a fake president. You don't like it, do you? You get pissed off. I wouldn't say pissed off there. I'd be more respectful, at least, of the Oval Office. But it doesn't feel so great when people are calling you names. Again, the reporter there became the target. The reporter always becomes a target. And too often, everybody else in the room goes quiet. Nobody wants to be next. Nobody wants to lose access. Nobody wants their credential taken away until it is too late. Of course, if reporters are only permitted to speak when the president approves of the question, that is not a press conference. That's, that's just you sitting there spouting stuff like as if the press should be your fan club. Don't forget this man built his brand using the press. Now he wants to control the press. And that's very dangerous. It's not, it's not only hypocritical, but it's very dangerous. Watch this.
The suspect worked very closely with the CIA in Afghanistan for years. That he was vetted and the vetting came up clean.
He went, he went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts. And that happens too. It happens too often with these people. You see him? But, look, this is how they come in. This is how they, they're standing on top of each other. And that's an airplane. There was no vetting or anything. They came in unvetted. And we have a lot of others in this country. We're going to get them out, but they go cuckoo. Something happens to them.
Your DOJ IG just reported this year that there was thorough vetting by DHS and by the FBI of these Afghans who were brought into the US. So why do you blame the Biden administration? This man did.
Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? Because they came in on a plane along with thousands of other people that shouldn't be here, and you're just asking questions because you're a stupid person. And there's a law passed that it's almost impossible to get them out. You can't get them out once they come in. And they came in and they were unvetted. They were unchecked. There were many of them. And they came in on big planes. And it was disgraceful. And if you look, you'll see there was a law passed. It makes it almost impossible not to let them in, not to certify them, so to speak, once they come in. And they came in and they shouldn't have come in. And frankly, the whole thing was a mess. The whole Afghanistan situation was a mess.
I can't anymore. I said, 'God, now did you see that reporter's face when he did that? Did you see her face?' She's like, 'They have to swallow this every single time.' And it should not be that way. He is a weak man. You forgot one word in there, Adrian, and that is weak-ass man. He's a, he's, that's, he's weak. So look at that. That reporter presents information challenging the president's claim, and instead of answering the question, well, he berates and he calls the reporter stupid. That is the trick. You attack the journalist so you never have to answer the question. You insult and you embarrass. You distract the audience. You turn accountability into like a screaming match or some sort of personal affront, like it's like it's some sort of entertainment or it's fun for him. But yelling stupid does not make the question disappear. It only reveals that the president would rather humiliate a reporter than explain himself.
I mean, come on, guys. You all see that pattern, right? You all see the pattern. You see it now. Every difficult question triggers a tantrum. Want another example? Here it is.
The freedom of the press enshrined in the First Amendment. Are you trying to...
Thank you for telling me that.
Are you trying to intimidate the press from doing...
No, no, no, no. I dislike dishonest press like you. I think you're terrible, but I dislike dishonest... I like to see honest press. Yeah.
What do you...
Now, is that, again? See, I don't, I don't know what those people are made of. I don't know if they're scared. I would, I am not afraid of losing access or something. I just couldn't, I just, I would tell my network, I'm sorry, this man cannot sit there and insult people and not expect to be, not to be insulted. It's just human nature. Come on now. And there it is again. A difficult question becomes dishonest, unflattering reporting becomes fake. Look, the perfect response is, 'Mr. President, I detect a pattern here that I'm sure many in this room detect. Every time you don't like a question, you call the person stupid. Now, is the person stupid or is the person who can't answer the question stupid?' And a journalist who refuses to suck up to the president suddenly becomes terrible. Just to make it clear, no president gets to decide that journalism is legitimate only when it's complimentary. No, no president gets to decide that. He thinks that he does. The First Amendment does not contain a presidential approval clause. One journalist who he has repeatedly targeted is ABC's Rachel Scott. Now, I want you to watch this very carefully.
What a period of time. It's almost a reward for the people having to put up with Biden's policy.
Yeah, but is that, you...
You also offered checks during tariff refund checks you...
And that didn't happen.
Listen, on Iran, and you're the worst, oil prices have shot back up over the last...
So that is Rachel Scott doing what a White House correspondent is supposed to do. She is pressing the most powerful elected official in the country for an answer. That's what she does is supposed to do. That's what journalists are supposed to do without fear or favor is press, press, press. That's what it's called. Press, the free press. What are they doing? It's in the name. They're pressing him on questions. They're supposed to press people. And he's supposed to give an answer and not insult. No other president has ever done this. Not to the extent that he's doing it. Rachel Scott is not there to massage his ego or tell him how great his tan is. Well, I mean, but then she would be telling the truth. If you can call that a tan. She is not there to applaud. She is there on behalf of the American people. On behalf of the American people. Let me say that again. And Donald Trump is a public servant. He has forgotten, or he never knew. But I want you to listen to what happens when she refused to back down on another separate occasion.
Not your turn. Not your turn, please.
Mr. President, are you going to hit...
So, not your turn. That's not a good look, Mr. President. A free press is supposed to make powerful people like you uncomfortable. The White House is not your fiefdom. Reporters are not your employees who can be disciplined for upsetting the boss. Here he is again. You want more?
You say that, darling. That's fake news.
Why would the Department of Defense...
Listen. Be quiet. Listen. You don't listen. You never listen. That's why you're second grade. We're not going to war. We're going to clean up our cities. We're going to clean them up so they don't kill five people every weekend. That's not war. That's common sense.
I don't understand why people even find this guy attractive in the least. And I don't mean it was not, I don't mean it's attractive per, like, physically. Well, that's a whole another story. But I mean just attractive as a candidate or someone they would want representing them. He is what you teach your children not to be. The reporters are listening to the that he spouts day after day after day. And that's precisely why they keep asking questions and that's why this issue is bigger than one rude exchange or one bruised ego. The president has now barred CNN, MSNBC now, and Politico from the White House after objecting to their coverage, prompting the three news organizations to take his administration to court. Now, in a moment, we're going to hear the latest on the court battle ahead with our reporter Daniel Grimes, who is at the White House today. But first, I want to get a word in before we bring in our guests from our sponsors.
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Now, if I could wake up tomorrow and be better at one thing, I know exactly what it would be. Turning it off. I spend all day in the news, right, turning that off and turning my phone up. I spend it all day reading it, talking about it, reacting to it, preparing for the next show, and then the show ends. And sometimes my brain is still at work. So, I'm looking at my phone and I'm reading one more thing, thinking about tomorrow instead of being where I am right now in the moment. So, I'd like to be better at putting the phone down and actually being present.
I'm going to have to go to this person.
Better is a feeling defined by you. And for better health, it's a BetterHelp therapist who really gets you. It's a focus on global emotional well-being with thousands of therapists and millions of members in over 100 countries. It's progress. And for me, maybe it's getting better at turning off everything all at once and once in a while, right? So, sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com/don. That's BetterHelp.com/don. And thank you to our sponsors that keep us powered. I want to bring in our correspondent now, Daniel Grimes, who joins us now from the White House briefing room. Daniel, hello to you. Are you alone? Are you, are you one of a few? What is going on there?
Yeah, there's just a few people here left in the White House briefing room. I was panned to the few reporters that are left here in the briefing room, but a lot of people obviously went to New York following the president for the United Nations General Assembly meeting that really kicks off tomorrow. But Don, I heard you talk about the legal battle that's now underway with the three media outlets that have been banned from this very room. And we know that the judge that is going to oversee that case is actually going to do it on Wednesday. So we could get a decision on Wednesday. This judge actually is familiar because he oversaw friend of the show Jim Acosta's case when his credentials were revoked temporarily from the White House in Trump's first term. He is a Trump appointee. But he did rule in that decision that Jim Acosta's rights as a reporter were infringed upon. So just maybe a little bit of what we may expect him to rule on Wednesday with these three cases that he has before.
Daniel, how's morale with the press corps? Because look, the journalists are not the owners of the company who appear to be many of them bending the knee. What is morale like?
Yeah. I mean, I think everyone is dumbfounded, Don. Honestly, you know, even though we've seen what Donald Trump has done in his second term, I don't think, as we talked about this morning, that a lot of media companies expected the president to come for them. Again, a lot of people have amended their coverage in his second term to be more favorable to the president. We've seen media companies donate to his re-election bid and donate to his inaugural fund. So, I just think a lot of people here are shocked. But again, they are going to be unified. And we talked about that this morning, too, where there are people telling me, 'Hey, don't share images from the White House today. Let's have more of those embarrassing moments that we saw with the president trying to address.' I was there when the White House, when the president left the White House this afternoon. And we want more of those embarrassing moments to come out because then it's like, okay, if no one's there to actually report on him, we know how much he loves being on TV. Maybe that will help him relent and actually reinstall their press passes.
Did we, there was a different angle of the thing that we saw earlier of them at his whatever briefing he was having today. If we have that one, can we play that, Joanna, so we can talk about, so we can just see there. There it is.
So, this is footage that I took of him leaving, I believe.
Yeah.
And there he goes. Now, it's interesting. He doesn't understand the role of the media. And actually, without him even realizing it, right, they're not trying, they make him look good because every time he goes out, the audio is there. They walk out, the cameras are there, all of the folks with the great cameras, right, and the great audio and the boom mics and whatever press conference, whoever he's talking to, it's all clean and clear. And now it makes him look smaller, I think, without all of the accoutrements.
Well, let me just say this, Don. He has not responded. He didn't take any questions from us when he left DC. He didn't take any questions on the ground when he landed in New York. But I think he responded inadvertently because, and Joanna, I don't know if you have this, but I sent it to the group. The White House is now plugging on their social media pages the White House app. And a part of the plug, they literally say, 'All right, if you, you know, want to get any information without the noise, download the White House app and you can get all of President Trump's events live. You can get the footage and you can have that available right in your hands.' And I haven't seen that before. I haven't seen them plug the White House app before. So, I think, you know, President Trump probably saw that, was a bit embarrassed, and urged his team to probably, Natalie Harp, who I took a photo of, she was on that Air Force One with the president when he went to New York. He probably ordered her to make sure she got that out.
Well, since you mentioned New York, I want to play this and then we'll get your response to it and I'll respond to it as well. I have not seen it. I'm sure you have not seen it as well, but this is the president with the mayor of New York City.
Thank you. Mayor, first, what's your response to President Trump banning outlets from the White House grounds? Did you challenge him at all about this in your meeting with him? Historians and legal scholars have called it textbook authoritarianism. And Mr. President, are you banning outlets like MSNBC now, CNN, and Politico in order to distract from the Iran war and high gas prices?
Ooh. Yeah, I told the president that we're going to have all of the members of the press here on the lawn and that is something that I believe in, is everyone, no matter the opinion or the critique, that we engage.
Mr. President, it's interesting because they said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me. So, I wasn't very worried about that. Look at all that press. But no, I'm not, I'm only doing it because I think the press also has an obligation. And you know, I won in a landslide. I won the election in a landslide. I've done great things. I've done a lot of great things. I've settled eight wars. We have the best economic numbers for the country in the history of our country. We have $21 trillion pouring in. The biggest number ever, any country was three. Nobody's ever done what we've done. I never get anything positive. It's always negative. Even having to do with the war. We've done so.
Can we pause? Please pause. Pause. Pause. Pause. Look at mom's face. He's like, 'Lord have mercy.' This man, look at, look at him just standing there.
And Don, I'm glad that you paused it there because I'm confused. What positive coverage does the president want out of the war? The fact that gas prices have soared to near $4.50 a gallon nationally? The fact that he was lying about the number of service members who have died due to his war? I believe the last number was 22. He was saying it was closer to 13 or 18. What's positive about that? So, yeah, I don't get it.
How much more is left in that clip? Can we roll it? Is there more?
Look, they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. Let me just put it that way. And they're not doing well. They're not doing, in fact, I had meetings on it today. They're doing very poorly. You would think that an outlet would write at least reasonably well, but never. If you...
Okay. This man is a loon. I'm serious, this man is a freaking loon.
And we are all living inside of whatever it is that is going on in his head. There is nothing normal about that. And we have to sit here. Well, I don't have to sit here. But the folks have sat there for such a long time. I don't want Daniel, I don't stand by Daniel. I don't want Daniel to be a part of this. Can you put me up full? The people have stood by for the longest time pretending that this is normal and that they have to give false equivalents to his lies. I mean, the media inviting people on to make excuses for him, to lie for him, and somehow he's believing that that is his own press because he has strong-armed, he's believing his own press because he has strong-armed the media owners and the people who run the companies, the managers, he has strong-armed them into putting people on who agree with him, who will come on to spout his lies, and so that he feels that that makes him look good. But they have, they are hastening their own demise by doing this. I hate to say it, but it's their own fault that you have this person who lives in La La Land and now he thinks that he can get rid of the press if they report back to him what he said. Daniel, bring Daniel back in, please. Daniel is right. Daniel, you are right. It's like, what is, what is positive about this war? There's nothing positive. There is not even credible information that he is stopping...
them from getting a nuclear weapon. There isn't even—there was no credible information to show that they were on the verge of having one within 30 days or two weeks or whatever he and Netanyahu say. It's crazy.
And we haven't even talked about the 38 billion—and again, that's a conservative estimate—of taxpayer money that he spent on this war. So I mean, that's a whole other element. It's rising inflation. I mean, again, I struggle to find one positive thing. As you said, Don, you know, who actually had metrics put in place to determine how much nuclear capabilities Iran would have had? I think, you know...
