Trump's slap at 'fake' media draws boos, hisses from Davos crowd

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump takes swipe at Democrats and 'fake news' US President Donald Trump on Friday said that "had the opposing party won" the US presidential election, the stock market "would have been close to 50 percent". (Jan. 26)

DAVOS, Switzerland — President Trump's swipe at the "fake" news media Friday at the World Economic Forum prompted some hissing and booing from the audience.

During a question-and-answer session with the forum’s founder after his main speech to the group, Trump said it wasn’t until he became a politician that he realized “how nasty, how mean, how vicious and how fake the press can be.”

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The comment prompted some scorn from the room.

He had been asked by founder Klaus Schwab about how his past experiences had prepared him for the Oval Office. Trump noted that a businessman had never been elected president.

He said he was often “treated well” by the news media when he was a New York developer but that treatment changed when he entered politics.

Trump drew laughter when he told Schwab how, throughout his life, he's gotten a "disproportionate amount of press or media."

What experiences from your past, Schwab asked, have been most useful in preparing you for the presidency.

Being a business man, Trump answered.

"I've always loved business," he said. "I've always been good at building things, and I've always been successful at making money."

Then he took his shot at his presidential opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Had the Democrats won, the stock market "instead of being up almost 50% — the stock market is up since my election almost 50% — rather than that, I believe the stock market from that level, the initial level, would have been down close to 50%," he said.

Trump went on to jab Democrats on economics.

"They were going to put on massive new regulations," Trump said. "You couldn't breathe. It was choking our country to death. And I was able to see that, Klaus, as a businessperson."

Schwab declined to comment on whether his questions for the president were too soft, but he said, “As a politician who we are familiar with we are used to him expressing his views about the media.”

Earlier Friday, Trump branded as "fake news" a story by The New York Times that he had tried to fire special counselor Robert Mueller in June.

“Fake news, folks. Fake news. Typical New York Times fake stories,” he said as he was walking with a group of reporters.