Trump defends work habits, attacks media in series of tweets

President Trump lashed out at the national news media over coverage of his work habits and the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election in a series of tweets Sunday afternoon.

The president first unleashed a pair of tweets apparently prompted by an article published Thursday in The New York Times detailing the president’s private life and work schedule during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump said he was “a hard worker” and labeled the report by Katie Rogers and Annie Karni “a phony story” that was “written by a third rate reporter who knows nothing about me.”

“I work from early in the morning until late at night, haven’t left the White House in many months (except to launch Hospital Ship Comfort) in order to take care of Trade Deals, Military Rebuilding etc., and then I read a phony story in the failing @nytimes about my work schedule and eating habits, written by a third rate reporter who knows nothing about me,” he wrote.

“I will often be in the Oval Office late into the night & read & see that I am angrily eating a hamburger & Diet Coke in my bedroom. People with me are always stunned. Anything to demean!” Trump added.

….schedule and eating habits, written by a third rate reporter who knows nothing about me. I will often be in the Oval Office late into the night & read & see that I am angrily eating a hamburger & Diet Coke in my bedroom. People with me are always stunned. Anything to demean!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2020

The people that know me and know the history of our Country say that I am the hardest working President in history. I don’t know about that, but I am a hard worker and have probably gotten more done in the first 3 1/2 years than any President in history. The Fake News hates it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2020

In a series of tweets minutes later, the president went on the attack once more, this time saying reporters who had received Nobel Prizes — misspelled as “Noble” in the tweets — for their efforts to report on the special counsel investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia should return the prizes.

“When will all of the ‘reporters’ who have received Noble Prizes for their work on Russia, Russia, Russia, only to have been proven totally wrong (and, in fact, it was the other side who committed the crimes), be turning back their cherished ‘Nobles’ so that they can be given to the REAL REPORTERS & JOURNALISTS who got it right,” the president tweeted.

“When will the Noble Committee Act? Better be fast!” he added, repeating his misspelling of the Nobel Prize Committee.

When will all of the “reporters” who have received Noble Prizes for their work on Russia, Russia, Russia, only to have been proven totally wrong (and, in fact, it was the other side who committed the crimes), be turning back their cherished “Nobles” so that they can be given….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2020

….Lawsuits should be brought against all, including the Fake News Organizations, to rectify this terrible injustice. For all of the great lawyers out there, do we have any takers? When will the Noble Committee Act? Better be fast!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2020

The second set of tweets was widely mocked on Twitter over the president’s repeated misspelling of “Nobel” and the fact that there is no Nobel Prize for journalism. Two news organizations did receive Pulitzer Prizes — the highest award in journalism — in 2019 for Trump-related stories, but neither of those stories focused on the Russia investigation.