Trump Revokes Washington Post's Press Credentials
Published
Donald Trump announced on his Facebook page that he’s “revoking the press credentials of the phony and dishonest Washington Post” after the publication wrote an article highlighting comments Trump made linking President Obama to the deadly terror attack on an Orlando gay nightclub.
Trump complained on his Facebook page that the Post wrote a headline stating, “Donald Trump suggests President Obama was involved with Orlando shooting.” The Post published a June 13 article noting that “Trump seemed to repeatedly accuse President Obama on Monday of identifying with radicalized Muslims who have carried out terrorist attacks in the United States and being complicit in the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando over the weekend, the worst the country has ever seen.”
The Trump campaign has repeatedly banned reporters from across the political spectrum from attending Trump events. The campaign has, however, provided credentials to disreputable media like Alex Jones’ Infowars.com and white nationalist radio host James Edwards.
Trump has waged a war against the media that has gone far beyond the bounds of normal media criticism. Trump has pushed a plan to “open up our libel laws” that's been criticized by First Amendment advocates, threatened to retaliate against media outlets with the power of government agencies, issued scathing personal insults against journalists, and repeatedly sued or threatened to sue media figures over trivialities.
UPDATE: In a statement, Washington Post executive editor Marty Barron called Trump’s decision “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.”