US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and close aide, Jared Kushner, reportedly called on CNN's parent company, Time Warner, to fire 20 percent of the news network’s staff over its coverage of the 2016 election campaign.
Kushner met Time Warner executive Gary Ginsberg earlier this year and raised the Trump administration’s “deep concerns” about CNN’s coverage of the election news, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Citing people familiar with the issue, the Journal said Kushner told Ginsberg that CNN should fire employees, because they were so wrong in their analysis of how the 2016 presidential election would turn out.
A White House official, however, said Kushner didn't intend for the comment to be taken seriously. But the newspaper wrote that Kushner’s remark “wasn't taken lightly" inside Time Warner.
Shortly after Trump took office, the Journal reported that Kushner had met with Ginsberg at the White House and criticized CNN “inaccurate” analysis of the Trump administration as well as commentators, who had been especially critical of the president.
Several news outlets reported this week that the Trump administration wanted CNN sold as a condition of a merger between Time Warner and a telecommunications giant, AT&T, in order to avoid monopoly regulations.
CNN is part of Turner Broadcasting, which is owned by Time Warner.
Trump, however, said on Saturday that he “didn’t make that decision – it was made by a man who’s a very respected person, a very, very respected person.”
By “decision” Trump was apparently referring to reports that the Justice Department would seek to block the merger, unless AT&T sold off assets perhaps including CNN.
Trump repeatedly called out CNN, during the 2016 campaign and into his time in office, as “fake news.”