CNN’s Stelter criticizes Trump for his attack against NYT reporter

CNN’s Brian Stelter called out President Trump on Sunday for a recent tweet criticizing New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman after she published a story about Trump’s relationship with his personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

Trump tweeted on Saturday that Haberman was a “third rate reporter” and claimed he had nothing to do with her.

The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will “flip.” They use….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2018

“That tweet is wrong in at least four different ways,” Stelter said about Trump’s Saturday tweet. “He didn’t even spell her name right and he called her a third-rate reporter even though he knows she dominates the White House beat. Heck, she just won a Pulitzer a few days ago.”{mosads}

“Sometimes when covering the president it is difficult to determine what is actually a lie, but this one is crystal clear,” Stelter said.

“Lying is disrespectful,” Stelter continued. “And it’s not just disrespectful to Haberman or to journalists, but to the public.” 

Haberman, who also works as a political analyst for CNN, co-wrote an article on Saturday that detailed the negative aspects of the president’s relationship with Cohen and made the case that Cohen might cooperate with federal officials investigating his activities, including those related to Trump.

Stelter pointed out that even though Trump said he doesn’t speak or have anything to do with Haberman, they have a picture together at the Oval Office and Haberman “has interviewed Trump on the record more than a dozen times since 2015.”

Reporters from various publications have flocked to Haberman’s defense following the president’s comments. 

first rate. as someone sharp once said, reporters these days are at work, not war https://t.co/D7szVLT6M9

— Robert Costa (@costareports) April 21, 2018

I have no insider knowledge at all of this but it would not surprise me at all if he called Maggie right now and asked what she thought of the tweet.

— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) April 21, 2018

She’s actually known as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist & I have watched you speak with her repeatedly. Her sources are real & if what they are saying is destructive, might I suggest she’s not the one to blame https://t.co/ITzgIophvj

— Julie Davis (@juliehdavis) April 21, 2018

Haberman was part of the team that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 election and its connections to the Trump team.