Donald Trump has been lambasted for encouraging “violence against reporters” after posting a bizarre video of himself wrestling a man whose face has been obscured by the CNN logo.
Despite his forthcoming trip to Europe to attend the G20 Summit in Hamburg later this week, the US President seems to have ample time on his hands and has, once again, taken to Twitter to vent his anger at the media.
Yet this time it’s even more surreal than you would expect from the former reality star.
In the mock video, Trump can be seen hitting a man in a business suit, whose face is hidden by the CNN logo.
It is not clear who produced the brief video, but it was posted from Trump’s official Twitter account and is an altered version of his appearance at a WWE wrestling event in 2007.
The video was retweeted by the official presidential Twitter account, @POTUS, which is operated by the White House.
Accompanying the video is #FraudNewsCNN.
Trump has been stepping up his verbal attacks on the media. But an adviser thinks “no one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they don’t.”
White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert told ABC that he thinks Trump has been “beaten up in a way on cable platforms that he has a right to respond to.”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said last week Trump “in no way, form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence”.
CNN spoke out against the clip, slamming the president’s “juvenile behaviour”.
In a statement CNN said: “It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters.
“Clearly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied when she said the president had never done so.
“Instead of preparing for his overseas trip, his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, dealing with North Korea and working on his health care bill, he is instead involved in juvenile behaviour far below the dignity of his office.
“We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his.”