President-elect Donald Trump
Donald TrumpTrump considering Petraeus to be secretary of State: report Obama's Agriculture secretary: Dems need to talk to rural America NH Republican fires back at Trump: There was no election fraud MORE raged at anchors and executives from the country's five largest television networks during an off-the-record meeting Monday, according to a new report.
Two sources described the hourlong meeting at New York City’s Trump Tower in catastrophic terms to The New York Post.
“The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down.”
The Post’s second source said the meeting included 30 to 40 people and said Trump also took aim at ABC and NBC.
“Trump kept saying, ‘We’re in a room full of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong,'" the source said. "He addressed everyone in the room, calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. Trump didn’t say [NBC reporter] Katy Tur by name, but talked about a female correspondent who got it wrong.
“Then he referred to a horrible network correspondent who cried when Hillary [Clinton] lost who hosted a debate — which was [ABC’s] Martha Raddatz, who was also in the room.”
A source told Politico that Trump bemoaned NBC’s selection of photos the network uses of him, which he believes are unflattering. The source also said the president-elect was frustrated over complaints that he ditched the press pool last week. Trump went out to eat with his family when reporters were told he was in Trump Tower for the night.
Top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway disputed the New York Post story.
"No, that's not true at all," she said on Bloomberg Politics' 'With All Due Respect." "I sat right to his left. He did not explode in anger. By the way, it's an off-the-record meeting so whoever said that and mischaracterized it should think twice."
Monday’s meeting was attended by ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News and CNN, as well as MSNBC, NBC’s cable news arm.
The meeting was arranged by Conway, who served as Trump’s campaign manager for the final few months of the White House race. The conversation was deemed off-the-record, meaning the participants agreed not to publicly discuss its contents. Despite that assurance, details of the meeting leaked shortly after it wrapped up.
It's unclear who spoke to the Post and Politico about the details of the meeting, but Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro speculated on Twitter Monday night that the Trump camp may be leaking information.
Total power play by Trump to make these media folks look like children getting their scolding. He probably leaked it https://t.co/a51fgbTnoq
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) November 22, 2016
According to Politico, Trump said that 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney “really wants” to serve as secretary of State in the incoming administration. The businessman also heaped praised on President Obama and said they’ve talked by phone a couple times since their White House meeting.
And when discussing the current situation in Syria at the Monday meeting, the source told Politico Trump described it as “Holocaust-like.”
Trump regularly attacked the media throughout his campaign, calling it “corrupt” and labeling reporters “outright liars.”
Trump has not yet held a press conference as president-elect, a longstanding tradition for America’s new leaders.
Lisa Hagen contributed.
