President Trump has had a rough week, and tonight he blasted a pair of Fox News reporters over their coverage of the border wall negotiations, claiming that they have “less understanding” than journalists at networks he hates.
“Never thought I’d say this but I think [John Roberts] and [Gillian Turner] have even less understanding of the Wall negotiations than the folks at FAKE NEWS CNN & NBC!” Trump tweeted, referring to two of the news network’s top correspondents.
Never thought I’d say this but I think @johnrobertsFox and @GillianHTurner @FoxNews have even less understanding of the Wall negotiations than the folks at FAKE NEWS CNN & NBC! Look to final results! Don’t know how my poll numbers are so good, especially up 19% with Hispanics?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2019
Roberts is a veteran White House correspondent who covered the beat earlier in his career for CBS News.
He also worked at CNN before joining the Rupert Murdoch-owned cable channel Fox News in 2011.
Roberts has been Fox News’ Chief White House correspondent since early 2017.
Turner joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014. Before that, she worked in the National Security Council under Presidents Bush and Obama, according to her Twitter bio.
Since running for office, Trump has waged a public relations war against news outlets whose reporting he doesn’t like – among them CNN, NBC News, and others.
In a follow-up tweet, Trump wrote: ‘After all that I have done for the Military, our great Veterans, Judges (99), Justices (2), Tax & Regulation Cuts, the Economy, Energy, Trade & MUCH MORE, does anybody really think I won’t build the WALL?
After all that I have done for the Military, our great Veterans, Judges (99), Justices (2), Tax & Regulation Cuts, the Economy, Energy, Trade & MUCH MORE, does anybody really think I won’t build the WALL? Done more in first two years than any President! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2019
Trump has been known to call in to his favorite Fox News personalities who are solely on the opinion side of the network, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, and the hosts of Fox & Friends.
Roberts filled in for Chris Wallace as host on the Fox News Sunday show, which airs live every Sunday afternoon on the over-the-air Fox network.
Turner was a panelist on the program, which often invites news makers and talking heads to comment on the latest political developments.
Trump did not specify which aspects of the commentary by the Fox News correspondents he found problematic, but it is a safe bet to presume that the President is unhappy with overall coverage of what is widely considered his ‘surrender’ to Democrats in the month-long showdown over the government shutdown.
Even Trump’s most ardent supporters say that the President ‘caved’ in agreeing to reopen the government even though he did not receive any funding for his planned border wall.
Trump also took a shot at conservative commentator Ann Coulter, a longtime supporter of his, after she criticized him for agreeing to reopen the government without a deal on his long-promised border wall.
“I hear she’s become very hostile,” Trump said in a new interview with The Wall Street Journal. “Maybe I didn’t return her phone call or something.”
His jab comes shortly after Coulter blasted Trump repeatedly for not securing funding for a wall along the southern U.S. border, his signature campaign promise.
Coulter took to Twitter on Friday, the day lawmakers and the White House reached an agreement to end a 35-day-long partial shutdown, to blast Trump as “the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States.”
Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 25, 2019
Coulter has been one of the media’s most vocal supporters of Trump’s proposed border wall, and has warned the president repeatedly that he could lose in 2020 if he fails to follow through on his promise.
Trump, for his part, unfollowed Coulter on Twitter in December shortly after she said she wouldn’t support his reelection without a deal on a wall.