Former President Donald Trump confirmed Monday he plans to reach beyond conservative media and speak to a range of outlets after his relationship with Fox News soured.
Mr. Trump underscored his new approach by outlining his strategy to The Messenger, a brand-new outlet, in his first major interview since last week’s town hall with CNN, a cable network he has slammed for years.
“I’m doing a lot of different media. I was disappointed with Fox,” Mr. Trump said. “I thought the firing of Tucker [Carlson] was a tremendous mistake. I was very disappointed. And of course, I was disappointed with the coverage of the [2020 presidential] election, in particular, the early call in Arizona.”
Mr. Trump is retooling his media approach as some in the GOP say it is time to move on from the former president. They are worried about his fixation on his 2020 election loss to President Biden and his prospects in a potential rematch, along with his record of endorsing GOP candidates who lost key elections.
Mr. Trump swatted aside those criticisms in the interview, insisting the election was rigged against him and that the media will not be able to help themselves because coverage of his campaign earns ratings.
“Even if they say they’re not going to. They tried not to in 2020. I did much better in 2020 than I did in 2016. And people hate to write that. But I got millions more votes in 2020 than I did in 2016,” he said. “It was a rigged election. You can quote me on that or you can be afraid to go quote me on that.”
CNN, which is revamping its coverage under CEO Chris Licht, got flack from Democrats and some of its own employees after hosting a town hall for Mr. Trump in New Hampshire.
Critics said the event was stocked with too many Trump supporters, spotlighted his unsubstantiated claims about the 2020 election and was in poor taste following a civil verdict that found Mr. Trump liable for sex abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll, a former magazine writer.
Mr. Trump said CNN should be celebrating the evening instead of hand-wringing over the fallout.
“I was amazed to see that they were traumatized by what took place. They were actually traumatized,” Mr. Trump said. “They should have said, ‘We had a tremendous ratings night, one of the best in years, many years,’ and spiked the football.”
