President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that some terror attacks are under-reported, but media watchdogs and pundits have fired back to prove him wrong.
“You have seen what happened in Paris and Nice. All over Europe it’s happening,” Trump said during a visit to the Department of Defense. “It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported. And in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it.”
CNN’s Brian Stelter pointed out in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter that many attacks are “so widely covered, they’re known by a single word, like Paris, Nice, and Orlando.”
“CBS Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley was among the veteran journalists who shot down Trump’s assertion.
“Today President Trump told a U.S. military audience that there have been terrorist attacks that no one knows about because the media choose not to report them. It has been a busy day for presidential statements divorced from reality,” Pelley said on Monday night.
The White House eventually distributed a list of 78 terrorist attacks to support Trump’s claim. Still, some of his biggest fans don’t agree.
“Stupid of Trump to say the media doesn’t cover terror attacks. They do,” conservative radio host Joe Walsh tweeted. “What he should’ve said was the media covers up for Islam. They do.”
Check out some of the other reaction to Trump’s comment:
Trump tells troops: the “very dishonest press doesn't want to report” terror attacks…“they have their reasons” (This is ABSOLUTELY FALSE.) pic.twitter.com/WmIOKwGTaQ
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/passantino/status/828719148058284032
On Fox, the hosts are repeating Trump's talking points & claiming the MSM "under reported" attacks during Obama admin. "MEDIA'S TERROR MISS" pic.twitter.com/3nk3fYoCTW
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 7, 2017
CBS News has covered more than 74% of the terror attacks on Trump’s list. Here’s the list, w links to our coverage: https://t.co/R1mGvb7rgU pic.twitter.com/UmaQtExzMM
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) February 7, 2017
.@andersoncooper debunks Trump's latest lie with montage of himself personally covering terror attacks https://t.co/nxm0l5qz1j pic.twitter.com/NpU2r45B3Q
— Raw Story (@RawStory) February 7, 2017
"This is farcical, this claim… facts matter." — @NorahODonnell on President Trump’s accusations that media has downplayed terror pic.twitter.com/ZmF7PtyHC4
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) February 7, 2017
This White House List Contradicts Trump's Claim The News Media Ignores Terror Attackshttps://t.co/iKkCrjz0iO pic.twitter.com/E6TnHLXAZP
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 7, 2017
#Trump comes up with new conspiracy theory claiming terror attacks in Europe don't get reported pic.twitter.com/SitmyQ28fF https://t.co/4xNf23obUh
— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) February 6, 2017
Wha??
Trump tells military leaders "the very, very dishonest press" don't report on some terror attacks because "they have their reasons."
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) February 6, 2017