The White House says it will not renew subscriptions to the New York Times and Washington Post after Donald Trump once again attacked both newspapers as “fake” during an interview with Fox News.
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham told The Hill the administration has “no plans to renew” its subscriptions to either news outlet after the president continued his attacks against the American press.
Speaking about the New York Times to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Mr Trump said on Monday night: “We don’t even want it in the White House anymore.”
“We’re going to probably terminate that and the Washington Post, he added, “They’re fake.”
The president has ramped up his controversial insults towards US journalists after House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry alleging an abuse of power involving his dealings with Ukraine.
He has claimed in recent days that the press is “corrupt” and working with the Democratic Party.
Mr Trump also attacked CNN journalist Anderson Cooper for saying he had “falsely accused” Joe Biden’s son of wrongdoing during the last Democratic debates.
“I watch this crazy Anderson Cooper during the debate apologise for having to ask the question,” he said.
There has been no evidence of illegal wrongdoing on the part of the former vice president or his son, Hunter Biden, who worked on the board of a Ukrainian energy firm as his father served in the previous administration.
That has not stopped Mr Trump from claiming without any evidence that both of the Biden’s were involved in corrupt activity. In a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Trump seemingly encouraged corruption investigations into the Bidens, as well as a probe into the origins of the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Mr Trump has long claimed Ukraine was responsible for meddling in the election in support of his former opponent Hillary Clinton, rather than the Kremlin being responsible for interfering in his favour, as the US intelligence community and other bodies have confirmed. House Democrats have since launched an impeachment inquiry against him.
In the wake of such explosive scandals plaguing his office, Mr Trump has issued a number of incendiary comments that have received swift backlash on Capitol Hill.
In a tweet posted on Tuesday morning, the president described the impeachment efforts against him as a “lynching”. The tweet sparked enormous outcry from critics who noted the violent racist history America has faced surrounding lynchings.
