“Everybody’s getting ready for Thanksgiving,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday. “We will do it in four years. That will be so much fun.”
The president, who launched a Twitter attack on CNN late Thursday morning, later seemed to confirm the clip from “60 Minutes,” which aired Wednesday, in his comments. “They said I have all the time in the world,” he said on Friday during a meeting with governors. “I work very hard.”
A White House spokesperson denied the broadcast was in any way doctored, stating that both the president and first lady were speaking clearly when they said they did not want to plan ahead for the holiday.
The president’s Thanksgiving message, however, was dominated by the presidential campaign, teasing speculation that the event would mark his first formal speech as an incumbent president — or a likely candidate. The words and images on the wall behind the president were also altered to recall the day in November 2016 when he won the White House.
Mr. Trump’s rebuke of the cable news giant was the latest clash between the two camps in a series of tweets. He also took on NBC News.
“Every single event that is ‘fake news’ reports things falsely, even when they know if the event is true is not good for them in the short term, but falsely reports it anyway,” he wrote Thursday afternoon. “Hence, they make up stories and make up sources.”