(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said it's “great news” that a hedge fund run by billionaire Paul Singer had taken a new position in AT&T Inc., saying he hoped the investment by Elliott Management Corp. would “put a stop to all the Fake News emanating” from anchors at CNN.
Trump said in a tweet the cable network was bad for the country and that its international news operation “spews bad information” across the globe. He also repeated foreign leaders have asked him about critical coverage without providing further substantiation. The president also criticized Comcast Corp. and its MSNBC cable channel, saying the network was “incapable of saying anything positive.”
Trump's remarks appeared to be a response to news Singer had sent a letter to AT&T's board outlining a four-part plan to boost the telecommunications giant's share price. AT&T acquired CNN and other entertainment assets, including HBO and Warner Bros., in its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc. in 2018.
Trump has regularly attacked the news media over coverage of his administration, using terms to describe media outlets as “Fake News” and “enemies of the people,” sparking outcries from advocates of a free press. The White House has attempted in the past year to suspend the press credentials of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta and CNN contributor Brian Karem. Both moves were blocked by a federal court.
Over the weekend, Trump tweeted to suggest that reporters from the Washington Post should also lose access to the White House after the newspaper published a story that concluded the president had experienced a “lost summer” with few accomplishments.
To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Elizabeth Wasserman
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