Spicer Brands Press Attacks on Trump Reckless

Donald Trump transition team spokesman Sean Spicer spent some of the time on the daily press call Thursday slamming the media following Trump's press conference where the uncorroborated stories about Trump connections to Russia were a focus of attention.

Trump slammed CNN for reporting that some of the information had been included in a briefing paper presented to Trump and President Obama, calling it fake news and slammed BuzzFeed for publishing the entire document with its salacious and uncorroborated details, calling the site "garbage."

"These attacks display a reckless disregard for the truth and serve as a perfect illustration for America of why trust in the media is at an all-time low," Spicer said.

He said there was "no coordination" between the campaign and the Russian government and any suggestion that there was is "totally irresponsible."

Spicer said that "politics should not play a role in our intelligence efforts and our intelligence efforts shouldn't play a role in our politics."

CNN had said that multiple intelligence and other sources had confirmed that the document was part of the intelligence briefing on Russian influence and that the FBI was looking into it, as were members of Congress.

CNN continues to stand by its publication of the story, which it distinguishes from BuzzFeed’s publishing of the original document, which CNN referenced but did not quote from or detail.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.