President Donald Trump has complained often about the media and has on multiple occasions raised the possibility of taking retaliatory steps against the press. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Trump suggests pulling credentials from 'corrupt' media

President Donald Trump complained Wednesday that his administration receives overwhelmingly negative coverage from network news outlets and floated the idea of pulling credentials from outlets whose reporting is deemed unfair by the White House.

Trump cited a study from the right-leaning Media Research Center that showed 91 percent of the coverage of Trump’s administration from network news outlets through the first four months of 2018 was negative. In a Wednesday morning tweet, Trump said the negative reporting about his administration is “fake.”


“The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake),” the president wrote online. “Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?”

White House Correspondents’ Association President Margaret Talev said that just because the president doesn’t like the news coverage doesn’t mean it’s fake.

“A free press must be able to report on the good, the bad, the momentous and the mundane, without fear or favor,” she said in a statement. “And a president preventing a free and independent press from covering the workings of our republic would be an unconscionable assault on the First Amendment."

Trump has complained often about the media and has on multiple occasions raised the possibility of taking retaliatory steps against the press, including canceling the daily press briefing and threatening to “open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”

Michael Calderone contributed to this story.