Politics

Trump Lashes Out At Amazon, The Washington Post And The New York Times

Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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President Donald Trump attacked Amazon, The Washington Post and The New York Times in a series of tweets Wednesday as he continues his battle against the press.

“The failing [New York Times] writes false story after false story about me,” Trump tweeted. “They don’t even call to verify the facts of a story. A Fake News Joke!”

This seems to be in reference to an article from the Times, “On Senate Health Bill, Trump Falters in the Closer’s Role,” that said that President Trump was out of the loop in Senate health care negotiations and did not understand the details of the legislation.

He tweeted, “Some of the Fake News Media likes to say that I am not totally engaged in healthcare. Wrong, I know the subject well & want victory for U.S.”

One of the two Times reporters who wrote the story, Glenn Thrush, later tweeted, “Call your office, sir. [New York Times] spoke to many, many, many members of your staff yesterday – & ran everything by your team.”

The Daily Caller previously reported on Thrush’s tight relationship with the Clinton campaign. Emails released by WikiLeaks showed that he ran two stories by Clinton campaign staffers for approval.

The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry about what exactly the Times got wrong and whether the outlet did reach out before publishing.

Trump also targeted Amazon and The Washington Post in tweets Wednesday. “The #AmazonWashingtonPost, sometimes referred to as the guardian of Amazon not paying internet taxes (which they should) is FAKE NEWS!” Trump wrote. Amazon and The Washington Post are both owned by Jeff Bezos.

The connection between the two companies has long been a target of Trump’s. He said in a May 2016 interview that Bezos is “getting away with murder, tax-wise” and uses the Post for “power.” The then-candidate also said in a February rally, “If I become president, oh do they have problems. They’re going to have such problems.”

Newsweek wrote in July 2016 that Trump’s attacks on Amazon avoiding paying high taxes are true. “Amazon has largely avoided federal taxation by managing its books to avoid reporting any meaningful profits over the past 20 years. In the last quarter of 2015, for example, Amazon paid just $73 million in taxes on $35.7 billion in revenues.”