Maine Governor Paul LePage attacked media reports suggesting that he planned to leave the state during a government shutdown.

The stories arose from comments the governor allegedly made to two state Republican senators that he planned to leave during Maine’s government budget crisis. Governor LePage’s office described the reports as “fake news.”

The governor told Maine’s WGAN-AM, “I just love to sit in my office and make up ways so they’ll write these stupid stories because they are just so stupid, it’s awful.”

LePage also slammed the Maine media, calling them “vile,” “inaccurate,” and “useless.”

He concluded, “The sooner the print press goes away, the better society will be.”