During a press engagement in the Oval Office on Thursday, President Trump took the opportunity to criticize CNN, though he softened his approach when speaking with a journalist from the network’s Turkish branch. The occasion followed discussions with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The interaction unfolded as Yunus Paksoy, a reporter from CNN Türk, inquired about U.S. missile-defense systems. Paksoy referenced President Trump’s previous criticisms of the Obama and Biden administrations regarding their decisions not to sell Patriot missiles to Turkey. He acknowledged Trump’s reputation as a skilled negotiator in Turkey and asked, “What can you do to undo this stupidity?”

President Trump appeared genuinely taken aback upon learning which media outlet Paksoy represented. “CNN? Wow – because you sounded like a nice guy,” Trump remarked, his comment drawing laughter from those present. “CNN is fake news. But you sound like the real deal to me, so I’ll answer the question,” he added with a smile.

Trump then proceeded to discuss the sale of military equipment before returning to the reporter’s employer. ‘I like this guy. I like him. He’s from CNN,’ the president said. ‘Fake news. The worst fake news, but I like him. It’s CNN Turkey.’

CNN Türk is an independent affiliate owned by Turkish conglomerate Demirören Group under licensing from Warner Bros. Discovery’s EMEA division, which manages all of CNN’s cable and satellite stations. During their meeting on Thursday, Trump shared his hope that President Erdoğan would stop buying oil from Russia due to its role as an aggressor against Ukraine.

Erdoğan used a translator and did not react immediately to the president’s comments. Trump has a history of bashing CNN, first calling it ‘fake news’ in a tweet in January 2017.

He’s been known to frequently clash with the network’s chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins , who faced off with him repeatedly in the White House press briefing room during his first term and at a town hall-style event in 2023. At the town hall, Trump branded Collins ‘a nasty woman.’