President Donald Trump is continuing his impassioned tirade against fake news media as he heads to the Dover Air Force Base on Saturday to honor the four Americans who were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Syria this week.
The president tweeted early Saturday morning that he will visit the base in Delaware to pay his tributes.
‘Will be leaving for Dover to be with the families of four very special people who lost their lives in service to our Country!’ he tweeted.
Minutes after announcing the honorable visit, Trump continued last night’s furious rant against fake news media slamming a bombshell BuzzFeed News report claiming the president told his former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about a Moscow real estate project.
He tweeted: ‘@newtgingrich just stated that there has been no president since Abraham Lincoln who has been treated worse or more unfairly by the media than your favorite President, me! At the same time there has been no president who has accomplished more in his first two years in office!’
President Donald Trump headed to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Saturday to honor the four Americans killed in a suicide bomb attack in Syria on Wednesday, and ranted about fake news media along the way
The surprise visit was not on the president’s official schedule and he tweeted about the stop as he headed out of the White House Saturday morning
Minutes after announcing the trip, Trump continued Friday night’s tirade against fake news media, saying Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich claims ‘there has been no president treated worse or more unfairly by the media than me’
His tweet came after Former Speaker of the House Gingrich slammed the BuzzFeed report as the ‘equivalent of tabloids you buy at the grocery store’.
Then he continued to tout his success in office, saying the economy is its best in U.S. history.
‘The Economy is one of the best in our history, with unemployment at a 50 year low, and the Stock Market ready to again break a record (set by us many times) – & all you heard yesterday, based on a phony story, was Impeachment. You want to see a Stock Market Crash, Impeach Trump!’ he added.
The BuzzFeed piece claims the president directed Cohen to lie in his testimony to Congress about a Trump Organization tower deal in Moscow that continued through the summer of 2016.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s department discounted the BuzzFeed piece as false saying it is ‘not accurate’ but failed to point out any specific errors in a rare statement.
The special counsel’s spokesman Peter Carr says: ‘BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the Special Counsel’s Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony are not accurate’.
Ben Smith, editor-in-chief at BuzzFeed, tweeted: ‘In response to the statement tonight from the Special Counsel’s spokesman: We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he’s disputing’
BuzzFeed themselves posted the Peter Carr statement from the special counsel’s office refuting their bombshell story
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office called the BuzzFeed story on Cohen lying on behalf of Trump ‘inaccurate’
Ben Smith (left), editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed is sticking by the story co-written by Jason Leopold (right) and asking for clarification for what Mueller’s office is disputing
The president called the report ‘a very sad day for journalism, but a great day for our Country’.
Nicknamed the ‘FOIA Terrorist,’ Jason Leopold’s colorful journalism career
Jason Leopold is the senior investigative journalist for BuzzFeed who has worked with Anthony Cormier reporting on the Trump Tower Moscow project.
He earned the nickname ‘FOIA Terrorist’ on Twitter due to a reputation for breaking stories from information found in Freedom of Information Act submissions.
Leopold previously worked for or contributed to VICE News, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, LA Times, Truthout.org and Salon.
In 2006 he wrote a book that detailed his battle with mental illness and suicide attempts, and also lying to employers about a larceny conviction on his record once.
With BuzzFeed standing by the article, Leopold and Cormier are still heading the Trump/Russia beat.
- 2006 – Leopold working for Truthout.org reported Karl Rove’s indictment over the Valerie Plame affair was ‘imminent’ but the Bush staffer never faced any charges
- 2002 – Salon.com removed a story Leopold wrote as a freelancer saying it was ‘riddled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations’ while also saying the piece contained ‘an instance of plagiarism’
He then followed that up by tweeting: ‘Fake News is truly the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!’
‘Remember it was Buzzfeed that released the totally discredited “Dossier,” paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the Democrats (as opposition research), on which the entire Russian probe is based!’ he fired back late Friday night.
Then he went on a retweeting spree, sharing the posts of people bashing BuzzFeed as a reputable news source.
Meanwhile Ben Smith, editor-in-chief at BuzzFeed, tweeted: ‘In response to the statement tonight from the Special Counsel’s spokesman: We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he’s disputing.’
‘We’re really confident in these specific sources and in the stories these reporters told,’ Smith added on CNN’s Anderson Cooper, backing up his reporters Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier.
He referenced two unidentified law enforcement officials from the original story that reported Trump told Cohen to lie to Congress about the Moscow real estate project.
Smith also called into MSNBC to speak with Chris Hayes saying ‘the special counsel issued this very vague statement, we are eager to know what he’s talking about’.
Shortly after the statement from Mueller’s office was released Trump retweeted: ‘Sadly so many will never get the memo that it was fake!’
Trump blasted his former lawyer and fixer Cohen on Friday as a liar who was ‘trying to reduce his jail time’ when he reportedly told Mueller that a scheme to build a Trump Tower project in Moscow extended through the 2016 Republican National Convention and into the months before Trump became president-elect.
The president also retweeted the Newsmax host John Cardillo saying: ‘I told you all that the BuzzFeed story was nonsense.’
On Friday New Yorker reporter Ronan Farrow had tweeted his own misgivings about the BuzzFeed story, writing: ‘I can’t speak to Buzzfeed’s sourcing, but, for what it’s worth, I declined to run with parts of the narrative they conveyed based on a source central to the story repeatedly disputing the idea that Trump directly issued orders of that kind.’
Friday night Trump called fake news the ‘enemy of the people’ yet again after BuzzFeed News published a report that alleged he told his lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about dealings with Russia
He called the report ‘a very sad day for journalism, but a great day for our Country’ after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office disputed the report as inaccurate
Michael Cohen arrives home to his apartment in New York City. The longtime Trump lawyer appeared to have his arm in a sling and had a pillow on top of his arm
CNN also written previously that the former Los Angeles Times, Dow Jones, and Vice News reporter Leopold had a ‘checkered past’ when it came to accuracy of his reports during the George W. Bush administration, prior to the Mueller office statement.
Leopold’s investigative partner, Anthony Cormier, however, was a member of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team in 2016 at the Tampa Bay Times prior to joining BuzzFeed. He collaborated on an investigative series into the neglected mental health system in Florida. He joined BuzzFeed’s investigative unit shortly afterwards.
The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., meanwhile, has been gleefully firing off tweets about the news outlet retweeting the Mueller office rebuttal with nothing but a series of ‘crying laughing’ emojis, and retweeting another post that had made the statement that either Trump is finished or BuzzFeed is with the comment ‘You were saying??’
Anthony Cormier, shown, is the investigative partner on the Trump Tower story with Jason Leopold at BuzzFeed
Since the statement put out by Mueller’s office, the President’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr has been tweeting and retweeting rapidly taking shots at BuzzFeed and other media outlets reporting around the story including The Daily Beast and CNN.
Buzzfeed’s report, if true, would constitute subornation of perjury – a felony crime.
Obstruction of justice was the first order of impeachment against President Richard Nixon.
As the Twitter war was unfolded, Cohen was seen returning to his Manhattan apartment on Friday after getting medical treatment and his arm appeared to be in a sling.
Cohen advisor Lanny Davis said Cohen had gone into the hospital for pre-scheduled shoulder surgery.
Cohen could be seen with his left arm covered, hanging in a sling. He was holding a full-size white pillow against his body. His right hand had a small bandage of the kind used to cover a small wound by an IV.
Three of the four Americans killed in a suicide bomb blast in Syria on Wednesday have been identified, including Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan R Farmer, 37, of Boynton Beach, Florida (left) and Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician (Interpretive) Shannon M Kent, 35, (right) of upstate New York
Defense Department civilian Scott A Wirtz (left) of St Louis, Missouri, was also killed in the attack. The fourth victim is believed to be interpreter Ghadir Taher (right) of Georgia
Trump will stop at the Dover Air Force Base to honor the four victims killed after a suicide bomber detonated explosives on Wednesday in Manbij, Syria
The attack took place after Trump announced he’d be pulling American troops from Syria
Aftermath of the deadly bomb in Manbij, Syria pictured above. It was the deadliest attack against Americans in Syria
Saturday’s Delaware visit is not on the president’s official schedule. He’s set to host a naturalization ceremony in the Oval Office by the afternoon.
The Wednesday bombing in Manbij was the deadliest assault on U.S. troops in Syria since American forces moved into the war-torn country in 2015.
The victims slain is the attack include Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan R. Farmer, Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician Shannon M. Kent, and civilian Scott A. Wirtz who was also a former Navy SEAL working for the Defense Intelligence Agency. they have all been identified by the Pentagon.
The fourth victim was not named by the Pentagon but is was said to be an interpreter. She was named as Ghadir Taher by the Washington Post, a 27-year-old Arabic interpreter from Georgia.
The four victims died and three other Americans were wounded after a suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to their chest in a restaurant where the group stopped following a meeting with local military officials.
A total of 19 people were killed in the attack.
The deadly bomb came about a month after Trump said the Islamic State group had been defeated and he was withdrawing U.S. forces from the country.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Following the bombing the Pentagon spokesman released a statement saying ISIS ‘remains a threat’ in Syria.
‘We will continue to hit the remnants of ISIS hard to destroy any residual networks and ensure its enduring defeat,’ the spokesperson said in a statement.
President Trump goes on retweeting marathon after Mueller statement on BuzzFeed
President Trump begun a barrage of retweets after Mueller’s statement before addressing the Buzzfeed article directly.
He retweeted Newsmax host John Cardillo as the story broke. Cardillo had tweeted his skepticism about the BuzzFeed report prior to this development
Trump then moved on to retweet Dan Bongino, former Secret Service agent and current podcaster who linked his own post about BuzzFeed
Breaking from the BuzzFeed story, Trump retweeted a post by his former deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka from nearly two years ago showing his inauguration
Back to Bongino, the president retweeted another favorite talking point that the real scandal was how his former opponent and predecessor behaved
Then he posted another Bongino link, this time asserting his approval rating has increased with Latinos during the current government shutdown
Brad Parscale, Trump’s campaign manager for the 2020 presidential election, retweeted the fired-up eldest son of Donald Trump criticizing the media in general
Ronna McDaniel, Republican National Committee chairwoman, was retweeted questioning the methods the BuzzFeed reporters utilized
The president then retweeted a fan posting a thank-you to God and a meme of the figure of Uncle Sam kneeling in prayer
Trump then posted a video with the snow backdrop of the White House making his case for a border wall again, the main sticking point in the government shutdown fight
Returning to the matter of BuzzFeed, Trump retweeted co-founder of Students for Trump that expresses his opinion on what journalism ‘isn’t’
Retweeting another supporter, Trump again returns to the topic of fake news
This supporter who was retweeted appears to make an argument specifically dealing with the Trump Tower project in Moscow investigated by BuzzFeed
It was at this point that President Trump issued his first direct response to the special counsel’s dispute with the BuzzFeed story on Twitter before going on to retweet twice more and cap off the night with a final direct tweet
Geraldo River was the last personality to get retweeted by President Trump expressing his own defense of the president and disdain for his detractors