Drudge hits Trump over call to take away reporters’ credentials

Drudge Report chief Matt Drudge criticized President Trump on Wednesday for his threat to take away credentials from news outlets.

The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake). Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2018

“I fear the future result of Trump’s crusade on ‘fake news’ will be a licensing of all reporters,” said Drudge, who typically deletes his tweets shortly after posting them.

“The mop up on this issue is going to be excruciating,” he added. 

Drudge, who is largely supportive of the president, added that Senate Democrats had floated such an idea before Trump was president.

{mosads}

Trump was referencing a recent report from the politically conservative Media Research Center that found 91 percent of “evaluative” statements made on the three main nightly newscasts from June to August of last year about Trump were negative.

The president has often gone after the media for what he views as unfair coverage that he has deemed “fake news” and talked about taking retaliatory measures against journalists.

In the past, he has floated canceling the daily press briefings and threatened to change libel laws so that when journalists write “purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”

Last year it was reported that Trump had urged former FBI Director James Comey to imprison journalists that published classified information.