Newseum selling ‘fake news’ and ‘Make America Great Again’ merchandise

The Newseum is selling “Make America Great Again” hats — as well as T-shirts proclaiming “You are very fake news” — on its website.

The hat with President Trump’s campaign slogan sells for $14.99, or $10 less than the official one on Trump’s campaign website, and is also a slightly different design. The “fake news” T-shirt is currently on sale for $19.95.

The items drew attention from journalists on Friday after being highlighted by the Poynter Institute, a journalism nonprofit.

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“As a nonpartisan organization people with differing viewpoints feel comfortable visiting the Newseum, and one of our greatest strengths is that we’re champions not only of a free press, but also of free speech,” a Newseum spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill on Friday.

Trump often characterizes the media as “fake news” in tweets and during campaign rallies, including most recently in Pennsylvania on Thursday night.  

Tensions between the Trump White House and the press erupted again this week when press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders refused multiple requests from CNN reporter Jim Acosta to state definitively that the media is not an “enemy of the people,” as Trump has said in the past.

The Newseum, which is located in Washington, D.C., says its mission is to “increase public understanding of the importance of a free press and the First Amendment.”

In 2009, it opened its 470,000 square-foot location near the National Mall after originally opening in a smaller, less expensive building in Rosslyn, Va., in 1997. 

The nonprofit museum is reportedly drowning in debt, with leaders actively looking to leave its D.C. location. 

“The plan is to continue to have the Newseum in some capacity, here or perhaps elsewhere,” chief operating officer Scott Williams told The Washington Post in February.

Tax documents showed that in 2016, the Newseum spent $8.2 million more than the $55.7 million in revenue it generated, triple of the shortfall from the year before. 

Jeffrey Herbst, who served as president and chief executive of the Newseum, resigned in August 2017 after the museum’s board ordered a full review of its finances. Herbst was replaced by former National Press Foundation Chairman Peter Prichard. 

Updated: 4:43 p.m.