CNN sprang to the defense of Carl Bernstein Wednesday after President Trump savaged him on Twitter, escalating a row over the veteran journalist's role in a disputed report alleging the president had prior knowledge of the controversial Trump Tower meeting.

"Make no mistake, Mr. President, CNN does not lie. We report the news. And we report when people in power tell lies," communications staff for the cable news network tweeted. "CNN stands by our reporting and our reporters. There may be many fools in this story but @carlbernstein is not one of them."

[New: Carl Bernstein to Trump: 'No taunt will diminish my commitment' to journalistic mission]



Make no mistake, Mr. President, CNN does not lie. We report the news. And we report when people in power tell lies. CNN stands by our reporting and our reporters. There may be many fools in this story but @carlbernstein is not one of them. — CNN Communications (@CNNPR) August 29, 2018



CNN's sharp rebuke follows Trump earlier Wednesday lambasting Bernstein for being “sloppy” and thinking like a “degenerate fool.” Bernstein helped uncover the Watergate scandal, which precipitated the resignation of former President Richard Nixon.

"CNN is being torn apart from within based on their being caught in a major lie and refusing to admit the mistake," the president wrote online. "Sloppy @carlbernstein, a man who lives in the past and thinks like a degenerate fool, making up story after story, is being laughed at all over the country! Fake News."

The CNN report at the center of the furor was written in July by several reporters, including Bernstein. It claimed that Trump's former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen saw Donald Trump Jr. speaking to the president about his June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer before it happened. Trump has denied having advanced notice of the meeting, which has reportedly been of interest to special counsel Robert Mueller's federal Russia investigation.

The CNN report relied on anonymous sources and indicated that Lanny Davis, Cohen's own attorney, declined to comment. But BuzzFeed News on Monday reported that Davis has since confessed to being a source.

Davis' involvement has created problems for Cohen because Trump's ex-fixer told congressional investigators in 2017 he himself had been unaware of the meeting. Shortly after Cohen pleaded guilty to eight charges before a New York federal court last week, the top two lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee went public with their decision to "re-engage" Cohen citing concerns regarding his previous testimony.

Cohen's guilty pleas stemmed from a probe conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York. That investigation was prompted by a referral from Mueller.