NBC's Katy Tur confronts Trump over press: 'Do you have to put our lives in danger?'

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 By 
Brian Koerber
 on 

The Trump administration has started an all-out war with the nation's free press, and journalists aren't taking it lightly.

"Yeah, we get it, you don't like us. Fine. But do you have to put our lives in danger?" NBC's Katy Tur asked President Trump in a powerful monologue on Friday on MSNBC, following a contentious week for the U.S. media.

Tur ripped into Trump for continuing to insult and call the press the "enemy of the people," despite a recent shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper that left five people dead. She brought up the fact that the publisher of the New York Times, A.G. Sulzberger, recently stressed to the president that his words were putting journalists in mortal danger. And she followed it up with a mention of CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta being berated by Trump supporters at a rally the president held in Florida on Wednesday.

Tur then masterfully used Trump's favorite child to prove her point: Ivanka contradicted her father's statements that the press was the enemy on Thursday during an interview with Axios.

"Sadly, the threats and harassment aren't stopping, journalists get them every day," Tur said, noting that the vitriol has only increased since Trump urged his crowds to yell and scream at the press during his rallies on the campaign trail.

Tur even opened up about some threats she's received from Trump supporters.

"I hope you get raped and killed," someone emailed Tur this week, signing off the email with Trump's MAGA campaign slogan.

But perhaps Tur's most powerful burn came subtly at the end of her statement, after she pleaded with those close to Trump to say something to him about the dangers this poses to democracy.

"Obviously, I'm not talking to you, Sarah Sanders," Tur said. "You made it clear where you stand yesterday."

On Thursday, Acosta left the press briefing room in protest after getting into a heated exchange with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who refused to break line with Trump and say that the media was not the enemy of the people.

Acosta later appeared on CNN to clear up why he walked out.

Fellow Americans are not the enemy of fellow Americans," Acosta said.

Tur's no stranger to Trump's personal attacks. The two famously butted heads on the campaign trail — and she went on to write a book about the experience.

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Brian Koerber

Brian was the Culture Editor and has been working at Mashable on the web culture desk since 2014.

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