President Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., called investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, who helped uncover the Watergate scandal, a "leftist hack" for his reporting on a 2016 Trump Tower meeting that involved Trump Jr.
"Comical to watch @CNN covering for leftist hack @carlbernstein," Trump Jr. tweeted on Sunday night. "He & Obama staffer @jimsciutto obviously got story wrong. CNN 'stands by' it anyway, defending literal fake news. 3 'reporters' were fired for false CNN hit on @Scaramucci & this is FAR worse!"
Comical to watch @CNN covering for leftist hack @carlbernstein. He & Obama staffer @jimsciutto obviously got story wrong. CNN "stands by" it anyway, defending literal fake news. 3 "reporters" were fired for false CNN hit on @Scaramucci & this is FAR worse! https://t.co/KdgpXfGhgT
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 27, 2018
Bernstein, along with Jim Sciutto and another journalist, reported in late July that Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen said he had seen Trump Jr. telling his father about Russians' offer of damaging information on Hillary Clinton, and that Trump approved of the meeting at Trump Tower.
The Washington Post the next day reported that Cohen told associates he witnessed Trump Jr. telling Trump about the meeting to get dirt on Clinton—but did not report that Trump Jr. said that Russians were providing the information. The Post's then-undisclosed source was Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis, who over the weekend backed away from his previous statement that Cohen possessed information demonstrating that Trump was aware of Russian efforts to hurt Clinton and could share details with investigators.
"I should have been more clear—including with you—that I could not independently confirm what happened," Davis told the Post in a report published Sunday that Trump Jr. linked in his tweet. "I regret my error."
A CNN spokeswoman in a statement Saturday said, "We stand by our story, and are confident in our reporting of it." CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Newsweek on Trump Jr.'s tweet on Monday morning.
On Saturday, Trump, on Twitter, called Davis out for backtracking on his comments on Cohen, who last week pled guilty to eight criminal counts.
"Michaels Cohen's attorney clarified the record, saying his client does not know if President Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting (out of which came nothing!)," Trump tweeted. "The answer is that I did NOT know about the meeting. Just another phony story by the Fake News Media!"
Trump Jr. in his tweet Sunday also slammed three CNN journalists who resigned last year, after the network retracted a story linking Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci to a Russian investment bank.
Bernstein, along with Bob Woodward, broke the Watergate stories that led to multiple investigations on President Richard Nixon and caused him to resign. Bernstein continues to report on government power abuse.
