Trump lashes out at 'fake news' when pressed about failure to hold news conference

President Donald Trump tried to breeze past the fact that he failed to hold a news conference — as promised — on Monday, instead lashing out at a CNN reporter as "fake news."

Trump on Friday had pledged that he would hold a “pretty big” news conference when he returned to Washington, D.C., on Monday to call for an investigation into China's intellectual property practices. Instead, he delivered a statement from the White House condemning the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend, taking no questions in the process.


At a second event, during which Trump signed a memorandum launching the trade investigation, the president also held no formal news conference and grew testy when CNN’s Jim Acosta asked why he hadn’t condemned hate groups by name over the weekend.

“They’ve been condemned. They have been condemned,” Trump said.

Acosta followed up by asking Trump why there was no press conference on Monday, as he had indicated last week. “We had a press conference,” Trump insisted. “We just had a press conference.”

Acosta asked whether the press corps could ask him more questions, and Trump replied that it wouldn’t bother him “at all.”

“But, you know, I like real news, not fake news,” Trump told Acosta as the president pointed toward the CNN reporter. “You’re fake news.”