President Trump continued his social media beatdown of the free press Sunday with a doctored video of himself pummeling a man with a CNN logo plastered on his face.
The Twitter takedown featured altered footage from a 10-year-old WrestleMania event when a pre-presidential Trump clotheslined wrestling honcho Vince McMahon outside the ring and followed up with several quick punches to the head.
But instead of McMahon’s shocked reaction, the video places CNN’s red-and-white logo onto the wrestling promoter’s shoulders. The new video was widely interpreted as a presidential nod that it’s OK to body-slam the media.
The wrestling slapshot came three days after White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted “the President in no way, form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence.”
Sanders did not return the Daily News’ request for comment.
CNN issued a statement:
“It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters,” the network said. “Clearly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied when she said the President had never done so.”
Trump captioned the embodiment of his attack on the media with the hashtags “#FraudNewsCNN #FNN.”
The official @POTUS handle proceeded to retweet the video, a version of which had been uploaded to Reddit four days earlier by user “HanA——Solo,” who has shared other posts targeting Muslims.
“I am honored,” he wrote of the retweet in a Reddit post.
CNN’s White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, swung back at Trump, tweeting, “Isn’t pro wrestling fake?” — to which Donald Trump Jr. snapped, “Yes, just like your coverage.”
The bizarre edit job came a day after the President publicly mused over “changing the name #FakeNews CNN to #FraudNewsCNN!” and insisted his use of social media was “MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL.”
Trump stayed on the attack later Sunday, stating on Twitter that “the dishonest media will NEVER keep us from accomplishing our objectives on behalf of our GREAT AMERICAN PEOPLE!”
Bruce Brown, the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, condemned the video as a “threat of physical violence against journalists.”
He said Trump’s tweet was “beneath the office of the presidency.”
A White House aide insisted the tweet should not send a chill across the media landscape.
“I think that no one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they don’t,” Homeland Security adviser Tom Bossert said, before launching into a GOP talking point. “But I do think that he’s beaten up in a way on cable platforms that he has a right to respond to.”
Bossert told ABC News that he was “pretty proud of the President for developing a … social media platform where he can talk directly to the American people.”
“In fact, he’s the most genuine President and the most nonpolitician President that we’ve seen in my lifetime,” Bossert said. “Whatever the content of that particular tweet is or any tweet, he’s demonstrated a genuine ability to communicate to the people.”
CNN did not agree.
“Instead of preparing for his overseas trip, his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, dealing with North Korea and working on his health care bill, he is instead involved in juvenile behavior far below the dignity of his office,” the CNN statement said. “We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she was not amused.
“Violence & violent imagery to bully the press must be rejected,” the California Democrat tweeted. “This #July4th, celebrate freedom of the press, guardians to our democracy.”
Trump has recently escalated his longstanding attacks on the press — particularly after he was widely rebuked for his Twitter mockery of “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski and her husband-to-be, Joe Scarborough.
“I’m President and they’re not,” Trump bragged during a Saturday night speech at the Kennedy Center that was meant to honor veterans. “We won and they lost …. The fact is, the press has destroyed themselves because they went too far, instead of being subtle and smart.”
A representative for Twitter, which bars “violent threats (direct or indirect)” in its site rules, declined to comment when asked if the company would take action against the President’s account.
Trump appears to have made up with McMahon in the years since the “Battle of the Billionaires” wrestling stunt.
McMahon’s wife, Linda, who founded and built their wrestling company with her husband, now works in the Trump administration as head of the Small Business Administration, and was a generous benefactor to his campaign.
