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Fox News anchor defends colleagues after Trump criticism: ‘This is NOT right’

Fox News anchor Julie Banderas on Monday fired back at President Trump after he tore into a pair of Fox News reporters over their coverage of the government shutdown.

“This is NOT right,” Banderas tweeted. “I stand by my colleagues [John Roberts] and [Gillian Turner]. They don’t deserve this. No reporter does.”

{mosads}“They are doing their jobs and reporting the facts,” she continued. “They are not opinion journalists and deserve the respect from the [White House] they cover.”

Banderas’s remarks came in response to a Sunday tweet from Trump that said Roberts and Turner “have even less understanding of the Wall negotiations than the folks at FAKE NEWS CNN & NBC!”

The president’s tweet targeted Roberts and Turner for their coverage of the border wall negotiations and came after Trump agreed on Friday to reopen the government after a 35-day partial shutdown, without funding for his proposed border wall.

Trump also said in the tweet that his approval rating is “up 19% with Hispanics.”

He appeared to be referencing a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll from earlier this month that found 50 percent of Latino adults approved of Trump’s job as president. The poll’s director later noted in a PBS NewsHour fact-check that an earlier reference by Trump to the 19 percent increase takes the data out of context, noting that the survey included responses from 153 Latino Americans, resulting in a margin of error of 9.9 percentage points for that subgroup in the poll.

PBS NewsHour said it was unsure what previous poll Trump was referencing to cite the 19 percent increase. A similar poll the previous month put Latino support at 31 percent.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump regularly criticizes CNN, The New York Times and other outlets over coverage of his administration that he deems negative, referring to the reports as “fake news.”

But the jab at Fox News was rare for the president, who has appeared on the network for several interviews and often praises its hosts and ratings.

Updated at 2:30 p.m.

Tags Border wall Donald Trump Fake News Fox News Government shutdown Social media Trump tweets

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