John King Refers to Fox News as ‘State TV’

CNN anchor John King attacked Fox News’s morning show Fox & Friends today, sarcastically referring to the network as “state TV” during his 12 p.m. program. He accused Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt of posing what he felt were “softball questions” during an interview with the president that aired on the program this morning.

“Well, let’s set aside the tough probing questions on state TV there,” King quipped after airing a portion of Earhardt’s interview where Trump defended his tweet that he actually had no tapes of his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey.

The president has previously stated on Twitter that may have actually been tapes of their conversations, tweeting on May 21: “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!,”

This isn’t the first time a member of the CNN family has referred to Fox News as “state TV.” CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker gave the rival network a similar name during a breakfast with reporters last Thursday, as well as during an interview with The New York editor David Remnick back in April.

ABC senior White House correspondent Jonathan Karl used the term to describe Fox News earlier this morning.