‘They Don’t Even Call to Verify the Facts of a Story’ Trump Says. Reporter Responds: ‘Call Your Office, Sir.’
President Donald Trump lashed out at The New York Times early Wednesday morning after the paper of record published unflattering details about his lack of involvement in the Republican Senate’s health care bill, and noted he appeared “especially confused” about its components.
“The failing @nytimes writes false story after false story about me. They don’t even call to verify the facts of a story. A Fake News Joke!” Trump tweeted at 6:49 AM, drawing further attention to the article.Â
“Some of the Fake News Media likes to say that I am not totally engaged in healthcare. Wrong, I know the subject well & want victory for U.S.,” Trump also tweeted, nine minutes later.
But the Times article proves otherwise.
After Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delayed the vote on the health care bill, the President invited all the GOP Senators (no Democrats) to the White House Tuesday afternoon to discuss the bill (photo above.)
“Until Tuesday’s meeting at the White House, Mr. Trump had spoken with only a few members of the Senate, according to an administration official,” The New York Times reported. “The pace was nothing like the dozens of calls he made to help pass the House’s health bill, aides said.”
The Times’ reporting grew more embarrassing for the President, who is all but guaranteed to lash out when criticized.
“A senator who supports the bill left the meeting at the White House with a sense that the president did not have a grasp of some basic elements of the Senate plan — and seemed especially confused when a moderate Republican complained that opponents of the bill would cast it as a massive tax break for the wealthy, according to an aide who received a detailed readout of the exchange.”
“Mr. Trump,” the Times report continued, “said he planned to tackle tax reform later, ignoring the repeal’s tax implications, the staff member added.”
The Senate health care bill is a massive tax break for the rich, a huge transfer of wealth from the poorest Americans to the most affluent. President Trump appears, according to the Times, to be wholly unaware of that fact.
One of the two New York Times reporters who wrote the unflattering piece responded to Trump’s attacks on Twitter, offering further proof Trump is greatly uninformed.
“Call your office, sir,” Glenn Thrush tweeted. “@nytimes spoke to many, many, many members of your staff yesterday – & ran everything by your team,” further debunking Trump’s claim the Times did not “even call to verify the facts of a story.”
Just 24 hours earlier Trump went on a even greater Twitter tirade, attacking the Times, the Washington Post, CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC News as “Fake News!” And Trump’s Deputy Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, on Tuesday told reporters in the White House briefing room the president was frustrated with the “barrage” of fake news being written about his administration, leading one veteran journalist to accuse her of being “inflammatory” and not answering questions.
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