![Jake Tapper gives one word response to Steve Bannon telling media to shut up](https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=18895420&width=980&quality=85)
CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead." Image source: Twitter video.
CNN's Jake Tapper had just one word in response to President Trump's top aide Steve Bannon telling the media to "shut up."
.@jaketapper: Reminder that the president's top aide just told NYT that the press should keep its mouth shut. No. https://t.co/v88feqWbib pic.twitter.com/EYw5Pc2faM
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) January 26, 2017
His answer, delivered with a laugh, was simply, "NO."
Bannon signaled that the administration saw the media as an enemy to be combated against in a scathing statement made to the New York Times.
“The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while,” Mr. Bannon said during a telephone call.“I want you to quote this,” Mr. Bannon added. “The media here is the opposition party. They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.”
The rhetorical battle between CNN and President Trump broke out in open war after the cable news network released a story about intelligence officials warning Trump that the Russians might have compromising material about his history. Trump's surrogates and allies have praised him for tackling the mainstream media, which they see as biased against conservatives. Meanwhile Jake Tapper has begun using his show to lob fact-checking missiles at the administration nearly on a daily basis.