Trump Falsely Claims Bernie Sanders Called CNN “Fake News.” Here’s What Sanders Really Said

The Vermont Senator Was Actually Mocking The President’s Use Of The Term

President Donald Trump took to Twitter early Sunday to falsely claim that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders called CNN “fake news.” 

“While on FAKE NEWS @CNN, Bernie Sanders was cut off for using the term fake news to describe the network. They said technical difficulties!” Trump wrote. 

Trump was referring to an appearance by Sanders on Friday, in which the former presidential candidate actually criticized Trump for calling CNN “fake news,” before referring to the president as a “pathological liar.” 

CNN’s Erin Burnett asked Sanders about a Washington Post report saying White House national security adviser Michael Flynn had “potentially illegal” discussions about sanctions with a Russian ambassador prior to Trump’s inauguration. Burnett noted that in response to questions about the report, Trump said he had not seen it. 

“He said he knows nothing about it, hasn’t seen any of these reports. Is that a problem?” Burnett said. 

“Well, I don’t know, maybe he was watching CNN ‘fake news,’ what do you think?” Sanders quipped. 

“You don’t buy it,” Burnett said. 

“That was a joke,” Sanders responded. 

“I know it was a joke. You don’t buy what he said, obviously,” Burnett said. 

Sanders’ video feed from Vermont then cut off, apparently due to a technical difficulties. But Trump’s tweet implies that the the feed was cut due to the “fake news” comment.

When the feed came back up, Sanders proceeded to eviscerate Trump. 

“Senator, you had just been joking about CNN ‘fake news,'” Burnett said. 

“Here’s the point, Erin, that is not a joke,” Sanders responded. “And I can tell you that here in Vermont and all over this country, there is a real concern about what’s been happening in this county over the last month. When you have a president who attacks people in the media who make critical remarks of him, which is what their job is, as providing ‘fake news.’ When you have a president who attacks a judge who rules against him as a ‘so-called judge,’ indicting the entire judiciary, clearly we have a president who does not understand what our Constitution is about, what democracy is about, and I think there is a fear in this country of this nation, under Trump, moving into a more authoritarian mode. 

“Second of all, what I hear in Vermont and around this country, is that people see this president as a total hypocrite,” Sanders added, before continuing to hammer Trump. 

According to CNN’s Jake Tapper, Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs responded to Trump’s tweet by saying, “The Senator was clearly joking”:  

And CNN’s Brian Stelter notes that Trump apparently based his tweet on a report from Fox News: 

Watch the full video of Sanders’ appearance here, or watch it in two parts below.