President Trump on Friday accused The New York Times of providing false stories about him and his administration to the FBI.
“Just revealed that the Failing and Desperate New York Times was feeding false stories about me, & those associated with me, to the FBI. This shows the kind of unprecedented hatred I have been putting up with for years with this Crooked newspaper. Is what they have done legal,” he tweeted.
“’This Russia Collusion Hoax was perpetrated in part by people inside the government, and in part by a compliant (Fake News) media.’ Mollie Hemingway. @TuckerCarlson @foxandfriends The facts are starting to pour out. Stay tuned,” he said, quoting Fox News’ contributor Mollie Hemingway.
The president’s statement originated from a Washington Examiner report that New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt “fed information about Jared Kushner meeting with Russians to the FBI” in an email to FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Michael Kortan.
“Wanted to flag you on something. Three of my colleagues are working on a story about the Russia investigation. They’re told that Jared Kushner is among the individuals who the FBI is scrutinizing for their meetings with Russians,” Mr. Schmidt said.
“My colleagues were told that Ambassador Kislyak, after meeting Kushner and General Flynn in early December at Trump Tower, set up a meeting with Kushner and a Russian banker. Kushner ultimately met with the Russian banker. The banker worked for Alpha Bank. Thanks. Mike,” he said.
The Times challenged the Examiner’s report, insisting it doesn’t “feed stories to the government or anyone else.”
“We routinely reach out to those who figure prominently in our coverage for comment to ensure fairness and accuracy,” it tweeted.
Other Times journalists ripped the article as well, with White House correspondent Maggie Haberman saying the story was “ripped from context.”
“Gonna be a long 16 months of routine process ripped from context and made to sound bad. Not new for potus, but a little surprising to see from a newspaper,” she said, replying to a Politico reporter calling it a “100% normal, unremarkable reporter/press secretary interaction.”
Fellow writer Nick Confessore, tore into it further, calling it a “crap story.”
“In which the @washexaminer obliges Judicial Watch with a farcical spin on the practice of running your reporting past sources to find out more information. This is a crap story,” he said, writing in a follow-up tweet. “My bad, the outlet that ran this pathetic story also goes by @dcexaminer.”
In response to a Twitter user calling his article “disgraceful” and “spread[ing] misleading framing about how the press works,” Washington Examiner writer Daniel Chaitin called it a “fair criticism.”
“Not going to fight it. The story does show, however, that it doesn’t appear Mike asked a question (unless FBI copy/pasted it w/o the question, but then why include the ’Thanks, Mike’ part?), and I also did reach out to him for comment to explain. Never heard back,” he tweeted.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.