Businessman Donald Trump, who is the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for president, says he is banning the Washington Post from future campaign events, calling the newspaper “phony and dishonest.”
Trump, writing on Facebook on Monday, criticized the newspaper for a story that said Trump appeared to accuse President Barack Obama of identifying with radicalized Muslims who have carried out terrorist attacks in the United States.
“Based on the incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting of the record setting Trump campaign, we are hereby revoking the press credentials of the phony and dishonest Washington Post,” Trump said in a post on Facebook.
Marty Baron, the executive editor of the Washington Post, called Trump’s move “nothing less than a repudiation” of the role of a free and independent press. “When coverage doesn’t correspond to what the candidate wants it to be, then a news organization is banished,” he said.
Baron added: “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.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Washington Post and its owner over the past year, accusing Jeff Bezos of owning the newspaper with the intent of “keeping taxes down” at Amazon. The Washington Post, which is working on a book about Trump, is one of the nation’s largest newspapers.
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