CNN’s Brian Stelter on Trump’s Attacks on the Press: There’s ‘Cause for Concern About Security’

“He wants to run against the media in the U.S. midterm elections.”

CNN’s Brian Stelter spoke with BBC Newsnight about President Donald Trump‘s continued attacks against the press and the security concerns that have arisen as a result.

“There is cause for concern about security that didn’t exist three years ago,” says the CNN’s Brian Stelter on being asked if journalists in the US feel threatened following President Trump’s repeated attacks on the media.@brianstelter | @MarkUrban01 | #newsnight pic.twitter.com/bT2QM8lXlP

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) August 3, 2018

He said Trump has been “singing the same tune about the media” for a while now, but now he’s heating up the rhetoric and there’s a “renewed sense of concern.”

“All patriotic Americans,” Stelter said, “know that the American press is not the enemy of the people. it’s a rhetorical device the President is using and he’s ratcheting up because he wants to run against the media in the U.S. midterm elections.”

Trump went after the media again multiple times this week, and his supporters shouted “CNN sucks!” and “fake news!” at CNN’s Jim Acostabefore one of his rallies.