President Trump blasted The Washington Post in a series of tweets Monday night, accusing the newspaper of being a “lobbyist weapon” for Amazon.
“The Amazon Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad,” Trump first tweeted.
“So many stories about me in the [Washington Post] are Fake News. They are as bad as ratings challenged [CNN]. Lobbyist for Amazon and taxes?” he continued.
He appeared to be referencing an article about his decision to end a CIA program that backed Syrian rebels.
{mosads}Trump accused The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, of being “a lobbyist weapon against politicians.”
“Is Fake News Washington Post being used as a lobbyist weapon against Congress to keep Politicians from looking into Amazon no-tax monopoly?” he tweeted.
Post reporter Adam Entous responded on Twitter, saying: “Not sure I understand @realDonaldTrump‘s critique. Our story was about his decision to end support to Syrian rebels fight Assad.”
The Post reported last week that Trump shuttered a CIA program to support Syrian rebels in the fight against Syrian President Bashar Assad in a major victory for Russia. Russian officials had reportedly seen the program as an attack on the country’s interests.
While it’s unclear what prompted Trump’s tweets, Politico media reporter Hadas Gold noted that Fox News host Tucker Carlson discussed the Post article on his Monday night show.
Trump has continued his attacks on the media including the Post and CNN recently, speaking out against “fake news” in a speech to the Boy Scouts at the 2017 National Jamboree earlier Monday.