'Unhinged' Trump's attacks on press more treacherous than Nixon's: Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein

Carl Bernstein, the legendary journalist who helped uncover the Watergate scandal, tore into U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated attacks on the media saying that his constants barbs for the press are more treacherous than those of Richard Nixon, the president he helped bring down after his investigation.

"The most dangerous 'enemy of the people' is presidential lying--always. Attacks on press by @realDonaldTrump more treacherous than Nixon's. Real news (not fake) is that @realDonaldTrump trying to make conduct of press the issue instead of egregious (and unhinged)conduct of POTUS," Bernstein said in a series of tweets.

Bernstein, who was critical of Trump during the campaign and since the election, further noted that when the press reported on Hillary Clinton's unauthorized email server, Trump saw journalists as "patriots."

 

"When focus of press was on Hillary's server--by same 'fake news' orgs/'enemies of the people' cited by @realDonaldTrump--he saw patriots," he said.

Bernstein's enraged tweets came as a response to Donald Trump calling his journalistic critics "enemies of the people".

"The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!," the President tweeted.

Trump, who has launched a 'FAKE NEWS' campaign against his critics in the media, took the battle to another level, after he was criticized for his 77 minute chaotic press conference, where he called the assembled journalists dishonest, accused a Jewish reporter of lying and ordered him to sit down, and told a black reporter asking about the Congressional Black Caucus: "Are they friends of yours? Set up a meeting."

Bernstein, known for his investigative reporting for the Washington Post that shed light on the Watergate scandal, leading to Nixon's resignation in 1974, had warned against Trump's "disdain for the truth" in December.

"Trump lives and thrives in a fact-free environment. No president, including Richard Nixon, has been so ignorant of fact and disdains fact in the way this president-elect does." Bernstein said on CNN, one of the media houses under Trump's radar.

Before Trump, President Thomas Jefferson and President Nixon were also recalled for their attacks on the media, however, no U.S. President has thought to have gone so far as publicly declaring sections of the media "enemies of the people".