Trump: Media are 'cogs in a corporate, political machine'

Trump: Media are 'cogs in a corporate, political machine'
By Lisa Hagen - 10-11-16 22:19 PM EDT

Donald Trump on Tuesday evening lashed out at the media as an "extension" of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, as he avoided comments about the intense party infighting with GOP leadership that consumed the day.

At a rally in Panama City, Fla., the GOP presidential nominee didn't acknowledge his public feud with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and instead largely trained his fire on the "media establishment."

He delivered a fiery rebuke against specific news outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post.

"The media is an extension of Hillary Clinton's campaign, it's just one more way that the system is rigged," Trump said Tuesday night.

"Reporters who work for these outlets like Washington Post or the New York Times may think of themselves as journalists, but they're actually just cogs in a corporate, political machine."

"The New York Times even gave Clinton veto power over a major story," Trump said. "I'd like to have veto power when they misquote me all the time."

Trump said he got "great press" prior to announcing his presidential run last year, and condemned the media for now reporting stories on the real estate mogul that he chalked up as "libelous."

"And I used to get great press until I said I'm running," Trump said. "Now every single story is a slant and I'll tell you what, it's libelous, it's slanderous, it's horrible."

The rally capped off a day Trump spent lashing out at Ryan and other Republicans for abandoning his campaign with less than a month until Election Day.

On Monday, Ryan held a conference call with Republicans saying he could no longer defend the real estate mogul after leaked audio from 2005 surfaced revealing that the real estate mogul made sexually explicit and aggressive comments about women.

Trump echoed a similar sentiment about the media during a Tuesday night interview with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly, arguing that Clinton wouldn't be in the race without the help of the press.

"If Hillary Clinton didn't have the press right now, she wouldn't be running, she would have lost immediately. If she didn't have the press on her side, and it's a total fixed job. If she didn't have it, she'd be at 10 percent right now. Nobody wants her," he said.