We all know that Donald Trump has tried to use his presidency and power to do some of the most unethical things we’ve ever seen come out of the White House. The president has completely failed to lead the country and instead has embarrassed the U.S. with his own petty affairs, dragging the country down the rabbit hole with him. A new report by the New Yorker shows yet another example of how Trump is using his power for all the wrong reasons.
This bombshell report, which focused on the creepy relationship between Trump and Fox News, revealed something disturbing about the president’s vendetta against another network. In the report, it was stated that Trump actually tried to get the Department of Justice to damage CNN because he didn’t like the negative (although honest) coverage he was getting.
The New Yorker‘s Jane Mayer reported that in 2017, just a few months before the DOJ filed suit to stop AT&T’s acquisition of CNN’s parent company Time Warner, Trump demanded that his chief economic adviser Gary Cohn put an end to the merger. Mayer said:
According to a well-informed source, Trump called Cohn into the Oval Office along with John Kelly, who had just become the chief of staff, and said in exasperation to Kelly, ‘I’ve been telling Cohn to get this lawsuit filed and nothing’s happened! I’ve mentioned it fifty times. And nothing’s happened. I want to make sure it’s filed. I want that deal blocked!’
Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs, evidently understood that it would be highly improper for a President to use the Justice Department to undermine two of the most powerful companies in the country as punishment for unfavorable news coverage, and as a reward for a competing news organization that boosted him. According to the source, as Cohn walked out of the meeting he told Kelly, ‘Don’t you fucking dare call the Justice Department. We are not going to do business that way.'”
Cohn and Kelly have been silent on the matter, but Mayer reports that a former White House official has confirmed that Trump “vented” in “frustration” over the deal quite often. Fortunately, the DOJ’s suit was smacked down by a federal court and the acquisition was completed anyway, but the fact that Trump even tried to do this is an attack on the media and a major abuse of his power. He should not be able to get away with this!
Featured image via screen capture
