Trump tears into ‘world class sleazebag’ Jeff Zucker, insists his affair with staffer isn’t the only reason he resigned from CNN and calls for a ‘straightening out’ of the ‘horrendous lamestream media’
Former President Donald Trump has attacked the immediate former CNN boss, Jeff Zucker, on Wednesday, hours after the news of Zucker’s resignation broke.
Trump called Zucker a ‘world-class sleazebag’, adding that his affair with a staffer was not the only reason for his resignation, Daily Mail reports.
Trump in 2018 also attacked Zucker on Twitter, saying that he should be fired.
According to Trump, who was President at the time, CNN’s “hatred and extreme bias” towards him made the media organisation “unable to function”.
“Little Jeff Z has done a terrible job, his ratings suck, & AT&T should fire him to save credibility!” he had tweeted.
Zucker had said he was leaving the media company after failing to disclose a sexual relationship with a female colleague.
But Trump insisted that the main reason Zucker was leaving was because ‘CNN has lost its way with viewers and everybody else’.
Trump, who has attacked the mainstream media for being critical of him, suggested Zucker’s exit would give CNN an opportunity to reboot.
‘Jeff Zucker is gone – congratulations to all!’ Trump also said.
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While in recent years, Zucker and Trump were at odds, when Zucker was the president of NBC Entertainment he greenlit The Apprentice, which turned Trump into a reality television star, giving the real estate developer name recognition that undoubtedly helped him win the White House in 2016.
‘Jeff Zucker, a world-class sleazebag who has headed ratings and real-news-challenged CNN for far too long, has been terminated for numerous reasons, but predominantly because CNN has lost its way with viewers and everybody else,’ the ex-president said in a statement.
‘Now is a change to put Fake News in the backseat because there may not be anything more important than straightening out the horrendous LameStream Media in our Country, and in the case of CNN, throughout the World,’ the ex-president continued.
Zucker’s exit from the network came after he failed to disclose a sexual relationship with a colleague, which was unearthed in the probe over ousted anchor, Chris Cuomo’s behaviour.
In a memo to colleagues obtained by The New York Times, Zucker wrote, ‘As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo’s tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years.’
‘I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong,’ he said.
Zucker was dating Allison Gollust, another CNN executive.
Trump has long panned CNN for its coverage – with attendees at his rallies often chanting ‘CNN sucks’ near the press pen – but in recent weeks he and his allies have also turned against Fox for not doing enough to prop up the so-called ‘big lie.’
Fox News Channel is also not covering Trump’s rallies live.
‘The Fox scam is over! Fox does not cover Trump at all, whatsoever,’ complained Trump’s former White House strategist Steve Bannon in a podcast taping after Trump’s Arizona rally in mid-January.
