ABC Reporter Fabricated Trump Call, Made Himself the Focus After Assassination Attempt
Jonathan Karl claimed the president personally checked on him the morning after...
This article originally appeared on m o d e r n i t y and was republished with permission.
Guest post by @ModernityNews
President Trump has slammed ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl for what he calls outright dishonest reporting after Karl inserted himself into the story of the latest assassination attempt on the president.
Karl appeared on ABCâs This Week shortly afterward and claimed Trump had reached out to him personally. âMy phone rang shortly after 7 a.m., my landline, George actually. A number that few people call and it was President Trump calling,â Karl told host George Stephanopoulos.
Karl further claimed that Trump âsaid at first he was calling to see if I was okay with what happened last night. âAre you OK?â And then he reiterated many of the things he said in his press conference last night emphasizing the unity that he felt in that moment that he felt at the dinner before the shooting and certainly after with people who reached out to him⌠And he was quite firm about this: That dinner must be rescheduled.â
This week, Trump responded directly on Truth Social, blasting the claim as pure fabrication designed to center Karl rather than the president who had just survived another attempt on his life.
âJonathan Karl, of ABC Fake News, made a statement that I called him early in the morning, the day after the assassination attempt, to ask whether or not HE was OK. No, this was a hit on ME, not HIM, and I didnât make such a call, why would I do that?â Trump remarked.
The president added, âHe called me, but I didnât take his call â He just confirmed that to me when he called again. I would say thatâs very dishonest reporting. Heâs trying to make himself look important but, Iâm not surprised, because it comes from ABC Fake News!â
This appears to be somewhat deranged behavior from a legacy media figure desperate to remain relevant. Instead of focusing on the security failures, the gunmanâs motives, or the presidentâs resolve, Karl turned the story into a narcissistic fantasy about himself â the brave reporter Trump supposedly felt compelled to check on at 7 a.m. the morning after an attack aimed squarely at the commander-in-chief.
This latest episode fits a long pattern of tension between Trump and ABC News. Readers will recall our earlier coverage of Trump calling out Karl and other ABC figures for biased and obnoxious questioning.
Trump also torched an obnoxious ABC fake news reporter over misleading boat strike video:
And of course, ABC was forced to pay out a massive $15 million settlement last year after falsely calling Trump a rapist:
The derangement doesnât stop with the press. In a related development that perfectly captures the upside-down priorities in Washington, a D.C. judge has now apologized to the alleged assassin himself over his treatment in custody.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui expressed âgrave concernsâ about conditions at the D.C. jail, including solitary confinement and suicide watch protocols for Cole Allen, telling the suspect directly he was âvery troubledâ by the reported treatment.
While security for Trump and the public remains under scrutiny after multiple attempts on the presidentâs life, the system bends over backward to ensure the accused gunman feels comfortable.
This is the same media and institutional class that spent years demonizing Trump, only to now feign shock when violence follows their rhetoric.
The fake news machine keeps exposing itself, and each time it does, trust in legacy outlets like ABC erodes further.
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