Trump boasts about economy, slams ‘fake news’ amid media battle

President Trump late Saturday boasted about the U.S. economy while accusing news outlets of “fake news” amid his battle over media coverage at the White House and of his administration.

“We have the BEST FINANCIAL NUMBERS EVER, and the FAKE NEWS MEDIA refuses to report them!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social .

When asked on Saturday by MS NOW White House correspondent Akayla Gardner about whether more supportive outlets should be part of the press pool, Trump said while leaving the White House that he did not, but that he wanted “real news, not fake news –– like you,” The Guardian reported.

Gardner asked if Trump wanted tougher questions, to which the president replied, “Be quiet,” while continuing to throw insults at media outlets, including CNN and MS NOW. The president has told reporters, usually reporters who are women, to stay “quiet” before.

Trump has long sparred with the press throughout his time in politics, but these attacks escalated with banning reporters from CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House grounds earlier this month. The outlets sued the administration , and a federal judge restored their White House access last week.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered that the reporters’ access be restored “immediately” after an emergency hearing on Wednesday. The three outlets argued that Trump’s ban violated their due process and First Amendment rights.

Reporters were still barred from the executive mansion despite the judge’s ruling on Thursday. By Friday, CNN reported that its journalists were blocked from joining the press pool that traveled with Trump.

MS NOW and CNN journalists also reported Thursday that their precredentialed access was denied to the state dinner arrival at the White House during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit. The president praised the visit but claimed press coverage of the meeting was sparse.

“The event was magnificent — Actually made for Television but, because they’re Fake News, and because they knew how good it would be, they didn’t want credit to be given to ‘TRUMP,’ they refused to be there,” Trump wrote on Truth Social . “That’s why they have such poor Ratings.”

CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox News responded to the dispute by boycotting the press pool in solidarity with CNN, which had previously been in the rotation. Several Fox News contributors were among those who slammed the ban, with Fox News’s chief political analyst Brit Hume saying that if Trump “thinks this will lead to more favorable coverage, I think he’s dreaming.”