Lesley Stahl: Trump Said He Bashes Press So Public Won't Believe Negative Stories About Him
Journalist Lesley Stahl of CBS' 60 Minutes said Monday night that President Trump told her he bashes the press to discredit them so the public won't believe negative stories about him. Stahl revealed the comments during a talk with PBS reporter Judy Woodruff before an audience at the Deadline Club of New York's annual journalism awards.
Stahl said she and her boss were meeting with Trump at his office ahead of a 60 Minutes interview with him after he'd won the 2016 election when he made the remarks. She said: "At one point, he started to attack the press. . . . I said, 'You know, this is getting tired. Why are you doing it over and over? It's boring and it's time to end that. You know, you've won . . . why do you keep hammering at this?' And he said: 'You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.'"
The comments are at the 21:24 mark of this video: