President Donald Trump fumed at the New York Times on Wednesday, accusing it of writing multiple false stories about his administration.
“The failing @nytimes writes false story after false story about me,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “They don’t even call to verify the facts of a story. A Fake News Joke!”
Trump was likely reacting to a New York Times story with the headline that Trump “Falters in the Closer’s Role,” citing the setback for the healthcare bill as an example.
“Some of the Fake News Media likes to say that I am not totally engaged in healthcare,” Trump said. “Wrong, I know the subject well & want victory for U.S.”
One of the reporters of the story, Glenn Thrush, responded to Trump on Twitter.
“Call your office, sir. New York Times spoke to many, many, many members of your staff yesterday – and ran everything by your team,” he said.
The president’s attack on the Times coincides with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s decision to sue the organization for defamation after falsely accusing her of inciting a shooter to attack Rep. Gabby Giffords.
“Today, Sarah Palin took a stand against The New York Times Company by filing a lawsuit which seeks to hold The Times accountable for stating that Governor Palin is part of a ‘sickeningly familiar pattern’ of politically motivated violence and that she incited the horrific 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords, a tragedy where the gunman seriously wounded numerous people and killed 6, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl,” Palin’s lawyers—Ken Turkel, Shane Vogt, and S. Preston Ricardo—said in a statement.