WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Trump returned to Twitter with a vengeance Saturday morning, following a long series of tame tweets that by all indications were written by someone other than the president.
Trump's massive Twitter tirade targeted, among other things, the New York Times and the Washington Post. The two papers have been the biggest thorns in Trump's side, having positioned themselves at the forefront of breaking stories that cast Trump and his administration in an unflattering light.
Trump has never shied away from going on the offensive when he believes that he's been unfairly targeted by the media. With the numerous stories broken by the two outlets this week, the president was primed for a rebuttal.
Trump vs. The New York Times
The Failing New York Times foiled U.S. attempt to kill the single most wanted terrorist,Al-Baghdadi.Their sick agenda over National Security
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2017
Trump criticized the Times for a 2015 report that he suggests interfered with U.S. efforts to track down and kill ISIS leader Abu Bkar Al-Baghdadi. However, according to a spokesperson for the Times, the story was run by the Pentagon at the time and it had no issues with its publication. In addition, no U.S. officials had taken any issue with it until now. The paper asked the White House to clarify just what the president's meant by the tweet, but they have not yet received a response.
Trump vs. The Washington Post
A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington Post,this time against A.G. Jeff Sessions.These illegal leaks, like Comey's, must stop!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2017
Trump took issue with what he calls an illegal intelligence leak that was the basis for a recent report on Attorney General Jeff Sessions. That report cited U.S. officials to reveal that Sessions talked about Trump campaign matters with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 presidential campaign. According to the report, U.S. spy agencies intercepted Kislyak's accounts of two separate conversations he had with Sessions. The ambassador told his superiors the two had substantive talks on Trump's positions on a number of Russia-related issues.
Sessions' statements on his contacts with foreign officials can be described as shifty at best. At first he didn't disclose any meetings with Kislyak, only to later say that he had the meetings in his capacity as a U.S. senator and he didn't recall what they were about.
The Trump administration has been trying to stop information like this from making its way to the media, but it seems the harder they try to do so the more info reporters get.
Fox News' role in Trump's tweets
Both of President Trump's tweets were sent within a half an hour of a segment on the Saturday edition of Fox & Friends that touched on both the New York Times and Washington Post articles.
So it appears that, unlike just 10 days ago, Trump once again has time to sit down and watch some TV.
The W.H. is functioning perfectly, focused on HealthCare, Tax Cuts/Reform & many other things. I have very little time for watching T.V.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2017
