On Thursday morning, Trump made a request.
By Thursday afternoon, CNN reports that Senate Intelligence Committee chair Richard Burr was ready to hop-to:
Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr warned news organizations Thursday that his panel would hold them "accountable" for any false reporting in the Russia investigation, saying that some will have "egg on their face" when the panel ultimately produces its findings.
Nothing encourages good journalism and promotes press independence like a threat from the government to hold them “accountable.” Since the committee has not released, and will not release, any of the documents it has received, and also won’t report on any testimony received in private, the press has been limited to basing reports on the few public hearings, the statements made by Burr and Warner, looking at the list of those being interviewed, and occasional comments from senators or staff who have been part of closed-door hearings.
But Burr makes it clear that his report will not just focus on looking at Russian interference, he’ll also be giving grade cards to the press.
"If, in fact, we find that news organizations have not covered it factually, I think that you'll see that in our report," Burr told CNN Thursday.
Trump asks. Burr delivers.
On Wednesday, Burr and ranking Democratic Senator Mark Warner conducted a joint press conference at which they appeared to dismiss some portions of the Trump–Russia investigation, such as the meeting at the Mayflower Hotel, but refused to give any statement on whether there was evidence of collusion. They also indicated that they had been able to confirm some items from the Steele dossier, but couldn’t make further progress on the items reported there without cooperation from Christopher Steele.
Without giving any details, Burr called the coverage of that press conference “loose at best.”
Asked for comments, Warner said only …
Asked for his response, Warner had two words: "No reaction."