Fact check: Trump lies about CNN at Mississippi rally

I tell my journalism students they won’t hear me talk about Trump’s policies at all. But I do talk about his interactions with journalists, which I frequently find appalling. Here’s the latest example.

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump stood before thousands of supporters in Mississippi on Friday night, squinted and pointed, and told them he was seeing something that was not actually happening.

Trump criticized CNN at length at his campaign rally in Tupelo. Then he gestured toward the back of BancorpSouth Arena and informed the crowd that he had just seen the light on CNN’s camera go out.

“Their light just went off. See? Look. Their light was on — they just turned it off,” he said. When the light is on, he explained, “that means you’re live.” CNN had stopped broadcasting live, he said, because it didn’t want to air his scathing criticism.

He made up this whole story.

Facts First: CNN was never broadcasting the rally live. CNN was not providing the live “pool” feed to other television networks. CNN’s photojournalist on the scene did not stop recording at any point in the speech. And the light on his camera is set so that it does not go on and off at all. CNN.com streamed the live rally online.

Trump did not make an innocent mistake: this is at least the eighth time as President he has made a baseless claim about the lights on television cameras being turned off as he has criticized the media. We think it’s especially egregious: it’s the President looking at his devotees and deceiving them about something happening in that very room.

Trump made more false claims at the rally. [Full Story]