WASHINGTON _ A day after a vote on a Senate health care bill he backed was delayed, President Donald Trump pushed back against reports that he has not taken a hands-on role in crafting the measure or garnering ample votes to pass it.
Trump used one of his typical morning tweets to lash out at a narrative that has emerged in recent days, including a New York Times piece posted online Tuesday evening, describing the president as not heavily involved in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's efforts to piece together a package that would repeal and replace Barack Obama's 2010 health law and then find the 50 votes to pass it (with Vice President Mike Pence casting the 51st and final necessary vote).
The president tweeted that some "Fake News Media" outlets are painting him as "not totally engaged in healthcare," adding that assessment is "Wrong."
The same Times report quoted a senator who attended a White House East Room mini-summit on Tuesday during which GOP senators expressed their concerns about the legislation to Trump as describing Trump as unfamiliar with key details about the bill.
Trump took such allegations on directly in his tweet: "I know the subject well & want victory for U.S."
In a separate tweet posted a few minutes earlier, Trump appeared to be alluding to the same Times story, writing: "The failing @nytimes writes false story after false story about me."
He accused the paper of not calling to verify its reporting; the same article quotes a Trump administration official, however, as saying before Tuesday's White House meeting, the president had spoken only to a few GOP senators about the health bill.
The president ended the first tweet with his opinion of the venerable New York newspaper: "A Fake News Joke!"
