People Who Were Actually in the Room with Trump Debunk Mainstream Media's Latest 'Hoax'

Mattie Neretin / Getty Images

The media is trying yet another "gotcha" on former President Donald Trump, but it turns out it is likely based on -- surprise, surprise -- more fake news.

On Thursday, Donald Trump met with a group of Republicans from the House of Representatives in Washington D.C. and the mainstream media had one takeaway from the day that sent them to breathlessly proclaim that the former president viciously attacked the very town that the GOP has chosen for its national convention this year.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is set to serve as the stage for the Republican National Convention in July, and will be the place where Trump will likely be elevated as the GOP nominee for president.

But, according to the hoax-loving media, as the presumptive nominee, Donald Trump threw a dig Milwaukee and called the city "horrible" during his June 13 meetings with Republicans.

The media loved the story.

A CNBC headline blared, "Trump allies scramble to explain after he calls Republican National Convention host Milwaukee a ‘horrible’ city."

CNN actually pulled out the "Democrats pounce" line, writing, "Democrats pounce on Trump calling Milwaukee ‘horrible.’"

The Associated Press dinged Trump with a headline reading, "Trump refers to Milwaukee as ‘horrible’ just before the city hosts the Republican convention."

And on, and on, it went.

CNN even celebrated by bringing Milwaukee's Democrat Mayor, Cavalier Johnson, on the air to absurdly insist that "Trump's comments about city could 'cost him the election.'"

But while the media was so quick to report that Trump was blasting Milwaukee as "horrible," people actually in the room struck back and said that the reports were a misconstruction of what Trump actually said and it is all just another typical mainstream media fabrication.

Trump's campaign website rounded up a list of congressmen from the Dairy State who were in the room and who said that Trump was not calling Milwaukee "horrible." He was talking about the horrible policies with which the Democrats have burdened the city.

Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil, for one, said, “I was in the room. President Trump did not say this. There is no better place than Wisconsin in July.”

I was in the room. President Trump did not say this. There is no better place than Wisconsin in July. https://t.co/MJUpqyAt4G

— Bryan Steil (@RepBryanSteil) June 13, 2024

In other comments, Steil said that Trump was not talking about Milwaukee as a whole, but was talking about "specific issues" that need to be fixed.

GOP Rep. Bryan Steil on Trump's Milwaukee comments: "He wasn't talking about the city. He was talking about specific issues in the city."

"I don't think that's the context at all. I'm saying we were talking about specific issues, not the city of Milwaukee." pic.twitter.com/KKPKpWCisE

— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) June 13, 2024

Fellow Wisconsinite Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, added, "President Trump’s remarks were about election integrity," according to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel correspondent Lawrence Andrea.