President Trump slammed NBC News Tuesday over accusations that it tried to kill the expose on movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, prompting Mr. Trump to threaten to “look at their license.”
The president said the network was “worse than CNN” and is now “fumbling around” in light of the allegations.
NBC FAKE NEWS, which is under intense scrutiny over their killing the Harvey Weinstein story, is now fumbling around making excuses for their probably highly unethical conduct. I have long criticized NBC and their journalistic standards-worse than even CNN. Look at their license?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2018
Ronan Farrow, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote the Weinstein exposé, accused NBC News of misleading the public and their employees late Monday night. He refuted all of the claims the network made in a report sent out to employees and said he moved his story to The New Yorker after being stonewalled.
“I took them up on it only after it became clear that I was being blocked from further reporting,” he wrote in a statement.
SEE ALSO: Ronan Farrow speaks out on NBC News allegations, accuses them of ‘misleading’ employees
Rich McHugh, a former producer for NBC’s investigative unit, publicly accused the network of “killing” the story, according to an interview with The New York Times. He worked on the project with Mr. Farrow, and said NBC News wanted to cancel an interview that would have secured an on-camera allegation against the Mr. Weinstein.
Mr. McHugh said he was instructed “to stand down on the story altogether.”
NBC News has denied all allegations and said the events are misconstrued.
“We’ve watched with disappointment as unfounded intimations and accusations have traveled through media circles,” NBC News chairman Andrew Lack wrote in an email published by NBC’s “Today” show. “At NBC News, one of our primary goals is to produce outstanding investigative journalism that stands up to intense scrutiny and has a meaningful impact on society.”
NBC News was also blasted by Mr. Trump on Thursday. The president accused network star Lester Holt of “fudging” an interview where they discussed former FBI Director James B. Comey being fired.
Reporters pushed back against the president’s claim, citing the 13-minute video posted by NBC News in May.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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