In an interview that aired Tuesday evening on Fox News Channel, Donald Trump told host Bill O’Reilly the media coverage of his campaign “is the all-time pile on in history, in terms of the press.”
Trump accused the news media of being “an extension of Hillary Clinton. It’s part of the rigged system.” Trump told O’Reilly, “one thing I’ll say about you, you agree that I’ve been treated unfairly by the press.”
O’Reilly responded “in some cases you have been, but in some cases you are too sensitive.”
Trump said he anticipated tough coverage when he announced his campaign:
Before I ran, I used to get great press. In fact, my wife said the other day, you used to never get a bad story. Well, I got some, but I got very few. Now I have like, I can be on the front page of the New York Times in three different stories and every one of them is a hit job. It’s a very unfair press. I knew it would be bad, but I didn’t know it would be this bad.
Trump described CNN as “crooked,” and credited Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity as “a great, great person.” As for O’Reilly himself, Trump said “you’ve been fair. I wouldn’t say you’re the greatest.”