President Donald Trump and his press secretary Sean Spicer spent Monday attacking a New York Times story accusing the Trump administration of having difficulty adjusting to power.
The Times story “Trump and Staff Rethink Tactics After Stumbles” published Sunday cited multiple sources and included many minute details about the Trump White House. “Aides confer in the dark because they cannot figure out how to operate the light switches in the cabinet room. Visitors conclude their meetings and then wander around, testing doorknobs until finding one that leads to an exit,” Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman wrote.
The New York Times story said that Trump constantly watches television in his bathrobe and spends time complaining about negative coverage of his administration. After the story came out, Trump tweeted, “The failing [New York Times] writes total fiction concerning me. They have gotten it wrong for two years, and now are making up stories & sources!”
White House press secretary Sean Spicer also complained about the story to reporters on Air Force One. “That story was so riddled with inaccuracies and lies that they owe the president an apology,” Spicer said.
The Daily Caller reached out to Thrush and Haberman to see if they will issue an apology and if they have any comment about Spicer’s remarks. They have not responded by press time.
Spicer said the story has “blatant factual errors and it’s unacceptable to see that kind of reporting or so-called reporting.”
The press secretary added that it is “the epitome of fake news.” “Start at the top. I don’t think the president owns a bathrobe. He definitely doesn’t wear one,” Spicer said. “From top to bottom it made up stories that don’t exist. And I think that’s unfortunate for people that look to news institutions like that for their news.”
The Trump administration has spent its opening weeks attacking the news media, and the press has spent that time writing several false reports. He has called both CNN and The New York Times “fake news” since taking office.