President-elect Donald Trump is ready to turn a new leaf when it comes to the media, which he has often attacked for reporting “fake news.”
In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Trump said he owes it to the country to work with the press — even those members who treated him “badly beyond comprehension.”
The president-elect said he is working on transforming America into “the greatest and most powerful country in the world.”
He said he needs to work with the press in order to make it happen.
“In order to Make America Great Again, it is very important, if not vital, to have a free, fair and open media or press,” Trump said.
Trump spoke about meeting with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday. This was the first time the three had met in seven years.
“I received a call from Joe Scarborough requesting a meeting for him and Mika, and I agreed that it would be a good thing if such meeting took place,” Trump said. “We met at Mar-a-Lago on Friday morning at 8:00.”
Trump called the meeting” extremely cordial.”
“Many things were discussed, and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have open communication,” Trump said. “In many ways, it’s too bad that it wasn’t done long ago.”
He said the two “congratulated me on running a ‘great and flawless campaign, one for the history books,’ which I really believe it was, but it was also a campaign where I worked long and hard — perhaps longer and harder than any presidential candidate in history.”
The conversation also included Trump’s new potential Cabinet.
“We talked about various Cabinet members — both announced and to be announced. As expected, they like some very much, but not all,” Trump said. “The meeting ended in a very positive manner, and we agreed to speak in the future.”
Trump said it is likely he will meet with other members of the media.
“I expect this will take place with others in the media, even those that have been extremely hostile,” he said.
He continued by stating he has “an obligation to the American public, and to our country itself, to be open and available to the press.”
But that will only continue as long as he is treated fairly.
“If not treated fairly, however, that will end,” Trump said. “The media is very important to the long-term success of the United States of America.”
He said he “will do whatever is necessary to bring our country to the highest level that it’s ever seen.”
“We’re off to a good start, and I will be open and free as to further developments as they take place, that includes media relationships,” Trump said.
Trump admitted he “obviously” has “the upper hand at this moment.”
“And while many others are calling for meetings, I am not looking for retribution, grandstanding or to destroy people who treated me very unfairly, or even badly beyond comprehension,” he said.
“I am always looking to give a second and even third chance, but never willing to give a fourth chance — that is where I hold the line,” Trump added.
Scarborough and Brzezinski also spoke about the meeting.
“Five years of political warfare has deeply divided Washington and the country. We have been as clear as we know how in expressing our deep concerns about President Trump’s actions and words in the coarsening of public debate,” Brzezinski said on Monday’s show.
“Joe and I realize it’s time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him,” she said, per the New York Post.
Scarborough added they talked about “abortion, mass deportation and threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets.”
“We talked about that a good bit,” he said. “It will come as no surprise to anybody who watches this show, has watched it over the past year or over the past decade, that we didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of issues and we told him so.”
