Trump Goes After the Washington Post for Using Anonymous Sources: ‘A Discgrace to Journalism’

In a Tuesday evening tweetstorm, President Donald Trump launched yet another attack against The Washington Post, accusing the publication of inventing sources and fabricating quotes.

The Washington Post is constantly quoting ‘anonymous sources’ that do not exist,” he said. “Rarely do they use the name of anyone because there is no one to give them the kind of negative quote that they are looking for. They are a discgrace to journalism but then again, so are many others!”

Realizing he’d criticized the work of a reputable media outlet by misspelling the word “disgrace,” Trump promptly deleted then retweeted his verbal assault.

The Washington Post is constantly quoting “anonymous sources” that do not exist. Rarely do they use the name of anyone because there is no one to give them the kind of negative quote that they are looking for. They are a disgrace to journalism but then again, so are many others!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2018

But not before Mediaite grabbed a screenshot of the original.

Trump has repeatedly targeted the Post for its reporting, angered by his inability to stem White House leaks to the media that have resulted in headline-making scoops. Among other favorite labels of his for the publication are “fake news” and the “Amazon Washington Post.”

[Mediaite]

Reality

First, anonymous sources are not just newsrooms making stuff up, unless you’re Breitbart or Fox News. Journalists have a process of checking sources, and editors-in-chief need to sign off on them, possibly checking the source themselves, before granting permission to be quoted.

Second, here are a few examples of Donald Trump using anonymous sources:

“Some people say (Michael Flynn) lied and some people say he didn’t lie.”

“A lot of people are saying they had spies in my campaign”

“Many people are saying that the Iranians killed the scientist who helped the U.S. because of Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails.”

“So many people have told me that I should host Meet the Press and replace the moron who is on now.”

“I will say there are people who continue to bring [The proven suicide of Vince Foster] up because they think it was absolutely a murder. I don’t do that because I don’t think it’s fair.”

“You know, some people say that was not [Obama’s] birth certificate.”