--- title: Donald Trump Says Most News Is Fake. McConnell lDisagrees description: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday addressed the notion of "fake news," distancing himself from Trump's use of the term. canonical: https://time.com/4909323/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-fake-news/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-21T17:37:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:05:54.370Z article:section: Politics og:title: Despite Trump's Protests, Mitch McConnell Says Most News 'Is Not Fake' og:description: Trump often dismisses wide swaths of the mainstream media as "fake news" og:url: https://time.com/4909323/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-fake-news/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec414d0ea663eae/6988d8ec0a4a224c639cf650/gettyimages-812747556.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Despite Trump's Protests, Mitch McConnell Says Most News 'Is Not Fake' twitter:description: Trump often dismisses wide swaths of the mainstream media as "fake news" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec414d0ea663eae/6988d8ec0a4a224c639cf650/gettyimages-812747556.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Despite Trump's Protests, Mitch McConnell Says Most News 'Is Not Fake' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Aug 21, 2017 5:37 PM UTC  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Washington, DC on July 11, 2017. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Washington, DC on July 11, 2017. Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Aug 21, 2017 5:37 PM UTC Senate Majority Leader [Mitch McConnell](http://time.com/4897099/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-feud-agenda/) on Monday addressed the notion of [“fake news”](http://time.com/4889471/germany-election-russia-fake-news-angela-merkel/) — a phrase often appropriated and used incorrectly by [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4908402/trump-afghanistan-war-strategy-national-address/) — distancing himself from Trump’s frequent use of the term. “My view is that most news is not fake, but I do try to look at a variety of sources” McConnell said during a joint appearance with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Trump often dismisses wide swaths of the mainstream media as “fake news,” when the term in fact refers to fabricated news stories. McConnell and Mnuchin appeared at a Chamber of Commerce event in Louisville, Kentucky, to discuss tax reform and other Republican priorities. It came after Trump thanked Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. for statements he made during an appearance Monday on Fox and Friends. Falwell said Trump “does not have a racist bone in his body.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/899623926082535425) McConnell and other Republicans have been critical of Trump’s response to a white nationalist march earlier this month, which left one woman dead and more than a dozen other people wounded. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4909323/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-fake-news/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4909323/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-fake-news/"},"headline":"Despite Trump's Protests, Mitch McConnell Says Most News 'Is Not Fake'","datePublished":"2017-08-21T17:37:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:05:54.370Z","description":"Trump often dismisses wide swaths of the mainstream media as \"fake news\"","url":"https://time.com/4909323/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-fake-news/","keywords":["Media","republicans","Congress","Mitch McConnell","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec414d0ea663eae/6988d8ec0a4a224c639cf650/gettyimages-812747556.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec414d0ea663eae/6988d8ec0a4a224c639cf650/gettyimages-812747556.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons","caption":"Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/media/","name":"Media"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4909323/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-fake-news/","name":"Despite Trump's Protests, Mitch McConnell Says Most News 'Is Not Fake'"}}]}] ```