Trump calls New York Times ‘a very sad joke all over the world’

President Trump on Tuesday ramped up attacks on The New York Times amid continued controversy over a report that included a new sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“The New York Times is at its lowest point in its long and storied history. Not only is it losing a lot of money, but it is a journalistic disaster, being laughed at even in the most liberal of enclaves. It has become a very sad joke all all over the World. Witch Hunt hurt them,” Trump tweeted.

In a subsequent tweet, Trump quoted Fox News political analyst Brit Hume: “’That story (Kavanaugh) is nowhere near the standard that should be met in publishing a story.'” 

The New York Times is at its lowest point in its long and storied history. Not only is it losing a lot of money, but it is a journalistic disaster, being laughed at even in the most liberal of enclaves. It has become a very sad joke all all over the World. Witch Hunt hurt them…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2019

….”That story (Kavanaugh) is nowhere near the standard that should be met in publishing a story.” @brithume @FoxNews

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2019

Trump’s tweets come days after two of the Times’s reporters published a controversial essay — adapted from their forthcoming book — that said a former classmate of Kavanaugh’s, Max Stier, claimed he witnessed the justice expose himself and force a female classmate to touch his penis at a dorm party when he was a student at Yale University. The Times said it corroborated the story with two other officials who had heard the same report from Stier.{mosads}

In a correction to the essay posted Sunday night, the Times said the woman involved in the alleged incident did not speak to the Times and that her friends say she does not recall that it happened. The essay’s co-authors said Tuesday that these details were in the initial draft of the story but were taken out during the editing process.

The president has seized on the correction several times over the past few days, arguing Kavanaugh was treated unfairly and calling for everyone involved in the story to resign from the newspaper. In one instance, he suggested Kavanaugh should sue. 

I call for the Resignation of everybody at The New York Times involved in the Kavanaugh SMEAR story, and while you’re at it, the Russian Witch Hunt Hoax, which is just as phony! They’ve taken the Old Grey Lady and broken her down, destroyed her virtue and ruined her reputation…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2019