Donald Trump has pulled a Draymond Green on WaPo.
The GOP’s presumptive nominee released a statement late Monday afternoon regarding his decision to yank the Post‘s press credentials and effectively block the newspaper from covering his events. Like Green, he kicked them where it counts — in the nuts — and questioned the publication’s integrity.
Unlike the Golden State Warrior’s power forward, he can’t be taken out of the game.
“The Washington Post unfortunately covers Mr. Trump very inaccurately. Today’s headline, ‘Donald Trump Suggests President Obama Was Involved With Orlando Shooting’ is a perfect example. We no longer feel compelled to work with a publication which has put its need for “clicks” above journalistic integrity.
“They have no journalistic integrity and write falsely about Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump does not mind a bad story, but it has to be honest. The fact is, The Washington Post is being used by the owners of Amazon as their political lobbyist so that they don’t have to pay taxes and don’t get sued for monopolistic tendencies that have led to the destruction of department stores and the retail industry.”
WaPo had a slew of negative stories about Trump over the weekend and Monday.
Executive Editor Marty Baron released his statement on the matter.
“Donald Trump’s decision to revoke The Washington Post’s press credentials is nothing less than a repudiation of the role of a free and independent press,” he said. “When coverage doesn’t correspond to what the candidate wants it to be, then a news organization is banished. The Post will continue to cover Donald Trump as it has all along–honorably, honestly, accurately, energetically and unflinchingly. We’re proud of our coverage, and we’re going to keep at it.”
NBC News’s Katy Tur, who covers the Trump campaign, said WaPo isn’t the only publication that has suffered at the hands of Trump. “They’ve threatened this for a number of us many times,” she said on MSNBC Monday. “…To have them totally ban a news organization is a new development.”
In May, WaPo‘s Publisher Jeff Bezos called Trump out at a tech conference for saying that Bezos had purchased WaPo to gain political power and avoid paying taxes on Amazon. Bezos said this was “not an appropriate way for a presidential candidate to behave.”