Trump turns away from his Iran battle plans to attack the ‘Crooked’ New York Times and ‘compliant (Fake News) media’ as he accuses the ‘Desperate’ paper of feeding fake stories about him to the FBI
- The president teed off on the Times Friday morning
- He said the paper was ‘feeding false stories about me’ to the FBI
- Said it shows ‘unprecedented hatred’
- Government email reveals a Times reporter flagged information to FBI about Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner
- It said Russia’s former ambassador set up a meeting between Kushner and head of a Russian bank
- Judicial Watch released the email and claimed it showed ‘FBI-media collusion’
With events still unfolding in the Middle East over President Trump’s apparent decision to pull back from an overnight military strike, the president tore into another favorite target, the New York Times, on Twitter.
‘Just revealed that the Failing and Desperate New York Times was feeding false stories about me, & those associated with me, to the FBI,’ Trump wrote Friday morning, as a tense confrontation was unfolding in Iran over how the U.S. would respond to the downing of a U.S. drone.
‘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?’ the president asked.
President Trump blasted the New York Times Friday, hours after he called off a strike against Iran
Then he flagged information apparently having to do with son-in-law Jared Kushner.
‘This Russia Collusion Hoax was perpetrated in part by people inside the government, and in part by a compliant (Fake News) media.’ Mollie Hemingway,’ he wrote, referencing a conservative Fox commentator. ‘The facts are starting to pour out. Stay tuned!’
Trump was referencing a segment from Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox that highlighted the release of newly unsealed emails relating to the Russia probe.
In one of them, New York Times reported Michael Schmidt referenced information the Times had gathered while apparently reaching out to the FBI for comment.
His email was to an FBI public affairs official.
Trump accused the paper of ‘unprecedented hatred’
He pointed to a Fox News segment that featured internal emails from the Russia probe
The president weighed in on the issue while contending with the Iranian downing of a U.S. drone
Trump raged against the New York Times Friday
Michael Schmidt
‘Wanted to flag you on something. Three of my colleagues are working on a story about the Russia investigation,’ Schmidt wrote FBI official Michael Kortan on March 24, 2017.
‘They’re told that Jared Kushner is among the individuals who the F.B.I. is scrutinizing for their meetings with Russians,’ he continued.
Peter Strzok
‘My colleagues were told that Ambassador [Sergey] Kislyak, after meeting Kushner and General [Michael] 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,’ Schmidt wrote.
As it turns out, Kortan forwarded the email to two FBI officials, Peter Strzrok and Lisa Page, who have since been revealed to be the ‘FBI lovers’ Trump regularly disparages.
Hemingway and Carlson blast Schmidt for his reporting tactics. ‘He was receiving leaks from the F.B.I. Then writing stories which were used as evidence to support further investigation as part of the special counsel probe,’ Hemingway said, calling it ‘kind of circular.’
Carlson weighed in, on the reporter who broke numerous Russia probe stories. ‘The Schmidt kid seems like a total lackey for the F.B.I. Why does he get to call himself a reporter? If he is calling to pass information on to the F.B.I., doesn’t that make him, I don’t know what it makes him? A source, a snitch?’