Donald Trump Reveals Where He 'Holds the Line' With Press in New Interview
President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that he is willing to give those in the media who he feels treated him badly a second or third chance, but this is where he would draw the line.
Speaking to Fox News on Monday morning, Trump said he felt it was important to have a "free, fair and open media or press", following a meeting with MSNBC's Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Friday.
"Many things were discussed, and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have open communication," he told the outlet. "In many ways, it's too bad that it wasn't done long ago."
While the Republican has not always shown support for more centrist or left-leaning media, he told Fox he felt obliged to the American people to work with the press, even those he felt had been unfair to him over the years.
"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, promising to be open and free in sharing developments ahead of his inauguration and beyond.
"If not treated fairly, however, that will end," the Republican added. "The media is very important to the long-term success of the United States of America."
While he did thank the "many reporters, journalists, shows and new media sources" for their "truthful, honest and professional" reporting over the years he had been president and a presidential candidate, Trump said there were only so many chances for those who spoke against him.
"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."
Comments Come After Trump Sues 'Biased' New York Times, CBS News
Trump has found support among Fox News hosts, even picking one as a potential member of his new cabinet, as well as other right-leaning news media.
"They were the ones that kept me in the game, and they were the ones that gave me a victory—the likes of which our country has rarely seen before," the President-elect added.
"These people and organizations, and they know who they are, should be, and are, very proud of themselves, and they have a right to be proud. And I have a right to say to them—congratulations."
Trump has previously been vocal about the mainstream media's approach when criticized, going as far as to sue various companies including The New York Times , Penguin Random House and CBS for stories he saw as targeting him.
A letter sent to the Times last week said the outlet had become "a full-throated mouthpiece of the Democratic Party " that employs "industrial-scale libel against political opponents". It called for $10 billion in damages.
On Election Day itself, Trump's attorneys wrote to the Daily Beast, demanding a correction over s that claimed Trump's campaign co-chief Chris LaCivita raised $22 million to help Trump's reelection.
