Trump: Senate Intel Committee should investigate 'fake news'
"Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks"
— -- President Donald Trump continued his attacks on the media today, suggesting in a tweet that the Senate Intelligence Committee should investigate news outlets for "fake" reporting.
Trump has been railing against the media this week for its coverage of his trip to Puerto Rico and his relationship with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Trump zeroed in on NBC News, which reported Wednesday morning that Tillerson was on the verge of resigning in July and had called Trump a "moron."
The secretary of state, issuing a rare statement, shot down the report: "I have never considered leaving this post."
While in Las Vegas Wednesday, Trump said that he has "total confidence in Rex" and called the story "phony" and "made up." NBC News is standing by its reporting.
According to NBC News, tensions between Trump and Tillerson reached a peak when Trump delivered a politicized speech in July to the Boy Scouts of America, an organization Tillerson formerly led.
"[Tillerson], from my perspective, is in an incredibly frustrating place where...he ends up not being supported in a way that I would hope a secretary of state would be supported," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is an ally of Tillerson's. Corker also said Tillerson is one of "those people that help separate our country from chaos."
After Tillerson said the U.S. has open lines of communication with North Korea, Trump undermined Tillerson by tweeting that Tillerson is "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with "Little Rocket Man" Kim Jong Un.
"Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!" Trump tweeted over the weekend.
The Senate Intelligence Committee, another frequent target of Trump's attacks on Twitter, is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and any possible collusion with Trump campaign associates.
The committee's two top senators announced Wednesday that the "issue of collusion" between Russia and Trump campaign associates is still unresolved.