President Donald Trump called MS NOW a “failing network” while answering reporters’ questions at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
Trump lashed out at the outlet, formerly known as MSNBC, as correspondent Ines de La Cuetara asked him about other countries’ responses to the war with Iran during a Wednesday morning press conference. The president was joined by several administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as he spoke to reporters for nearly 40 minutes.
When De La Cuetara introduced herself, Trump called MS NOW a “failing network” and asked, “Why would you want to work for them?”
“MS NOW, can you imagine? They wanted to get away, they took the name NBC because they were embarrassed by it,” he added.
De La Cuetara then asked: “You said today that countries like Spain, Italy and the U.K. were not there for the U.S. in its war with Iran. Should those countries be attacked, will the U.S. be there for that?”
Trump replied that Spain has been “very bad,” while “Italy has been good, and almost all of the countries have been good,” adding that they just had a “bad moment.” The president went on to accuse U.K. officials of saying they’d “want to wait until the war is over” to help, which he said was “not in the spirit of Winston Churchill.”
He concluded by calling the question “very fair.”
A spokesperson for MS NOW declined to comment when contacted by The Independent.
Cable ratings have revealed that MS NOW was the “standout network for the month of June,” and that it “finished in second place in total viewers in primetime and total day,” according to AdWeek.
The president and his allies have a long history of attacking female journalists. Just last month, Trump lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, claiming she “never smiles” and that he sees her “standing there with hatred in her eyes.” In May, when ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott asked him why he’s focusing on renovation projects in Washington, D.C., amid the Iran war, he called her question “stupid” and a “disgrace to the country.”
Meanwhile, Trump also hosted an impromptu press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, during which he appeared to confuse Iran with Japan.
“We had 111 missiles shot by the Islamic Republic of Japan. They were shot at the aircraft carrier over a period of about one hour. 111 missiles going to a very expensive ship, and every one of those missiles was knocked down, pretty much most by patriots, but by other means also,” he said.
Moments later, he appeared to mix up Zelensky and Russia’s president, after asking reporters if they had “a question for President Putin.” After the room erupted in laughter, the president suggested he’d take the question to the Russian leader.
