President Donald Trump railed against CNN while taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office Thursday, letting a journalist from the network’s Turkish affiliate slide because he ‘sounded like a nice guy.’
The exchange happened as Trump and Trukish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan fielded questions from reporters, leading CNN Türk’s Yunus Paksoy to ask about American missile-defense systems.
‘You repeatedly called out the Obama and Biden administrations for their stupid decisions,’ Paksoy said, citing America’s refusal to sell Patriot missiles to Turkey.
‘Now, you are known to be a great deal-maker in Turkey,’ he added. ‘What can you do to undo this stupidity?’
Trump showed genuine surprise after asking which outlet the reporter worked for.
‘CNN? Wow – because you sounded like a nice guy,’ he said with a smile, leading to laughs from the crowd.
‘CNN is fake news. But you sound like the real deal to me, so I’ll answer the question.’
Trump then proceeded to discuss the sale of military equipment before returning to the reporter’s employer.
President Trump let a journalist from CNN’s Turkish affiliate slide because he ‘sounded like a nice guy’
CNN Türk reporter Yunus Paksoy called Trump ‘a great deal-maker’ while posing his question to the president
Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s during their meeting in the Oval Office Thursday
‘I like this guy. I like him. He’s from CNN,’ the president said.
‘Fake news. The worst fake news, but I like him. It’s CNN Turkey.’
CNN Türk is an independent affiliate owned by Turkish conglomerate Demirören Group under licensing from Warner Bros. Discovery’s EMEA division, which manages all of CNN’s cable and satellite stations.
During their meeting on Thursday, Trump shared his hope that President Erdoğan would stop buying oil from Russia due to its role as an aggressor against Ukraine.
Erdoğan used a translator and did not react immediately to the president’s comments.
Trump has a history of bashing CNN, first calling it ‘fake news’ in a tweet in January 2017.
He’s been known to frequently clash with the network’s chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, who faced off with him repeatedly in the White House press briefing room during his first term and at a town hall-style event in 2023.
At the town hall, Trump branded Collins ‘a nasty woman.’
