Trump campaign accuses CNN of censorship for not airing 'president's enemies' ad

Jessica Estepa | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump retweets, deletes meme of train hitting CNN Just hours after condemning the hate groups at the Charlottesville rally, President Trump retweeted a far-right activist, a train hitting CNN, and a man calling him a fascist. Nathan Rousseau Smith (@fantasticmrnate) reports.

President Trump's re-election campaign said CNN had blocked its latest campaign ad, accusing the network of censorship. But the network said it has not rejected the ad.

The ad in question blasts Democrats, the media and career politicians. Additionally, it implies that members of the media are "the president's enemies." During a voiceover using that phrase, the ad features clips of journalists, many of whom work for CNN.

Campaign executive director Michael Glassner said millions of Americans support the president because of their "complete mistrust" in mainstream media.

"Today, CNN provided further proof that the network earns this mistrust every day by censoring President Trump's message to the American people by blocking our paid campaign ad," he said in a statement. "Clearly, the only viewpoint CNN allows on the air is CNN's."

Glassner called CNN's decision "censorship."

"This will not stop or deny our message that 'President Trump's plan is working' for the American people," he said.

However, CNN said it did not reject the ad. According to the network, it verbally asked for changes in order to make the ad factual, something it does with all ads. The campaign asked for the change requests to be made in writing, but according to CNN, it then issued a press release before CNN sent over the changes.

A CNN spokesperson said, "CNN would accept the ad if the images of reporters and anchors are removed. Anchors and reporters don't have 'enemies,' as the ad states, but they do hold those in power accountable across the political spectrum and aggressively challenge false and misleading statements and investigate wrong-doing."

This isn't the first time the campaign has blasted CNN for refusing to air an ad. Back in May, CNN did not air an ad about Trump's first 100 days in office. The network said at the time that the ad was false because of it inclusion of a graphic calling the mainstream media "fake news."

Still, per the network, CNN has aired five pro-Trump advocacy ads since February.

The campaign's Tuesday statement is also just the latest in ongoing animosity between the network and the president and his surrogates. On Monday, the president called CNN's Jim Acosta "fake news" during a face-to-face exchange. And earlier Tuesday, the president retweeted a cartoon that depicted a train running over CNN, thought the White House said this was inadvertent and the retweet has since been deleted.

More: Trump's retweet storm: A Pizzagate conspiracy theorist, a train hitting CNN, and accusation

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