In stunning exchange, Trump refuses to answer question from CNN reporter

He slammed the organization as "fake news."
 By 
Heather Dockray
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo

From the very beginning of Trump's contentious press conference on Wednesday, the president-elect expressed his contempt for news organizations like CNN and Buzzfeed.

PEOTUS' ire appears to have been provoked by a story published by CNN last night, which referenced a memo alleging that Trump may have been compromised by Russia. When CNN reporter Jim Acosta attempted to ask Trump a question today, Trump shut the senior white house correspondent down, accusing him of publishing fake news.

Acosta made repeated attempts to have the president-elect answer a question, but Trump spoke over the reporter and referred to him as "rude."

While Buzzfeed published the full 35-page document of the allegations, CNN and Acosta did not, as the claims could not be independently verified.

That didn't seem to matter to Trump, and the exchange electrified Twitter, who worried about freedom of the press.

After the exchange, Acosta tweeted that his question was asked by another member of the media.

This was Trump's first press conference in about six months.

Topics Donald Trump

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Heather Dockray

Heather was the Web Trends reporter at Mashable NYC. Prior to joining Mashable, Heather wrote regularly for UPROXX and GOOD Magazine, was published in The Daily Dot and VICE, and had her work featured in Entertainment Weekly, Jezebel, Mic, and Gawker. She loves small terrible dogs and responsible driving. Follow her on Twitter @wear_a_helmet.

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