Trump Says ‘I Don’t Know About That’ When Reporter Says China Is ‘Repressive’: ‘We’re Repressive Also’

President Donald Trump snapped back at a reporter who said China was one of the most “repressive countries in the world” for journalists.

During an Oval Office question-and-answer session Friday, just minutes after announcing that he was banning three major news outlets from the White House, a reporter asked about Chinese President Xi Jinping coming to the U.S. for an official state visit next week.

“A great honor,” Trump said.

“China is one of the most repressive countries for journalists in the world,” the reporter said. “What signal does it send—”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Trump spoke over the reporter. “I think we’re repressive also. We get fake news. We don’t repress, but they write fake news.”

Trump continued:

No, I think he’s going to come. We get along very well. It’s nice that we get along very well. We’ve had a good relationship. He will be here next week. I’ll tell you this, it’s too bad we don’t have the ballroom open. Because if we did, we’d have thousands — we could have 2,000 people having dinner. They would love — wee have a very tiny little room that’s going to be squeezed out at about 125 or so people. But I literally could tell you that thousands of people would love to be at that dinner. This is a very tough ticket for me. I have told a lot of very good friends of mine, “You just can’t come. Just can’t come.” It’s, uh — We’re going to have a very good meeting. We’re going to have a meeting. We get along well. We’re doing very well with China. I would say others maybe not so well. But we’re doing very well with China. President Xi and I have a very good relationship.

Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier in the day that he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House because of their propensity to report “fake news.”

Trump’s announcement fomented a fiery response from a number of journalists and pundits who condemned Trump’s flouting of the First Amendment.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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