Tillerson: I have never considered leaving this post
Secretary of state addresses 'erroneous' media reports about tensions with President Trump.
NBC News has no plans to apologize to America, despite President Trump saying the network should “issue an apology” for spreading “fake news.”
“It’s safe to say NBC News will not be issuing an apology to America,” NBC News Chief White House Correspondent Hallie Jackson said on MSNBC in a video that was tweeted by NBC News’ public relations department.
The NBC report that upset the president said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a “moron” and considered resigning this summer after a meeting at the Pentagon. Tillerson denied that he considered stepping down and would not address “petty” stuff, but said the president “loves this country and “puts Americans and America first.”
“We stand by it. We’ve extensively reported on this. We talked to a dozen people for this story,” Carol Lee, the reporter who filed the story, told Jackson.
“We stand by it. We’ve extensively reported on this. We talked to a dozen people for this story.”
Trump took to Twitter to bash NBC over the report, mocking his former network’s ratings and even saying it is “more dishonest” than CNN, the network he originally awarded the “fake news” nickname.
“NBC news is #FakeNews and more dishonest than even CNN. They are a disgrace to good reporting. No wonder their news ratings are way down!” Trump tweeted.
Trump called for an apology in a follow-up tweet, “The @NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and @VP Pence. It is #FakeNews. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!”
Trump was famously a longtime NBC employee when he hosted “The Apprentice” but his relationship with the network has been rocky since he entered the political world. On Saturday night, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” featured a segment in which Trump was referred to as a “cheap cracker” and he has criticized the network’s reporting several times in the past.
Meanwhile, Trump might want to rethink his compliment regarding CNN, as the network is now also reporting that Tillerson had referred to him as a "moron" at the Pentagon this summer, citing “a source familiar with the conversation.”
“We stand by our reporting,” an NBC News spokeswoman told Fox News.
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