President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Thursday morning to slam “ungrateful TRAITOR” Chelsea Manning minutes after Fox News anchor Abby Huntsman reported on Manning with the exact phrase on the network’s chyron.
Manning had her sentence commuted by Barack Obama in his final days in the White House. And on Wednesday, Manning published an op-ed in The Guardian that argued Obama had “few permanent accomplishments.”
At 5:50 a.m. ET, Huntsman reported on the op-ed with the following comment: “Chelsea Manning is sounding less than grateful to President Obama for cutting nearly twenty-five years off of her sentence for leaking unclassified information.”
Fourteen minutes later, Trump fired off the following tweet:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/824573698774601729
The tweet and Huntsman’s report are obviously quite similar and Axios recently reported that the president consumes a ton of news, specifically mentioning Fox News morning show “Fox & Friends.”
“Aides talk of giving him ‘better choices’ or jamming his schedule with meetings to keep him away from reading about or watching himself on TV,” Axios’ Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei wrote when detailing Trump’s media diet.
Media watchdogs were quick to point out the similarities:
14 minutes apart: Fox says "ungrateful traitor," Trump says "ungrateful traitor," Fox says "weak leader," Trump says "weak leader." pic.twitter.com/f7urTOUG1L
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 26, 2017
Trump calls Manning an “ungrateful traitor” right after Fox News aired this: https://t.co/COVXf0zHRa pic.twitter.com/mBWH5Lxgyj
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) January 26, 2017
Trump went after Chelsea Manning minutes after Fox News did a segment about her: https://t.co/3D9IytSUsS
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) January 26, 2017
Trump Rips Into ‘Ungrateful TRAITOR’ Chelsea Manning 14 Minutes After Fox News Segment https://t.co/nkZ49zKFs4 pic.twitter.com/UL8eUEwUbk
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) January 26, 2017