President Donald Trump on June 3 suggested that a boycott of AT&T could force the corporation to overhaul its news network subsidiary CNN.
“Just arrived in the United Kingdom. The only problem is that CNN is the primary source of news available from the U.S. After watching it for a short while, I turned it off,” Trump said. “All negative & so much Fake News, very bad for U.S. Big ratings drop. Why doesn’t owner AT&T do something?”
“I believe that if people stopped using or subscribing to AT&T, they would be forced to make big changes at CNN, which is dying in the ratings anyway,” Trump added. “It is so unfair with such bad, Fake News! Why wouldn’t they act. When the World watches CNN, it gets a false picture of USA. Sad!”
AT&T acquired CNN in June 2018 as part of its $85 billion purchase of assets from Time Warner.
Trump has frequently criticized CNN for airing virtually nonstop coverage that casts his presidency in a negative light.
“I didn’t know that. What can I say? I didn’t know that she was nasty,” Trump said, according to The Sun.
However, he said, “It is nice“ that she joined the royal family. ”I am sure she will do excellently.”
“She will be very good,” he added. “I hope she does (succeed).”
The president wrote on Twitter that he never actually said Markle was “nasty.”
Representatives for AT&T didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Wow! CNN Ratings are WAY DOWN, record lows,” Trump wrote on Twitter on May 23. “People are getting tired of so many Fake Stories and Anti-Trump lies. Chris Cuomo was rewarded for lowest morning ratings with a prime time spot - which is failing badly and not helping the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon!”
The president has previously declined to call on CNN during news conferences, and has had a number of heated exchanges with CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta. The White House temporarily revoked Acosta’s press pass, after Acosta refused to give up a microphone and brushed aside a female aide who tried to retrieve it.