President Donald Trump slammed The Washington Post late on Wednesday night over their report claiming that he wanted to have Attorney General William Barr hold a press conference and publicly clear him of any wrongdoing from his July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying that the story was “totally untrue.”
The Washington Post reported late on Wednesday evening:
The request from Trump traveled from the president to other White House officials and eventually to the Justice Department. The president has mentioned Barr’s demurral to associates in recent weeks, saying he wished Barr would have held the news conference, Trump advisers say. …
…As the rough transcript was released, a Justice Department spokeswoman said officials had evaluated it and the whistleblower complaint to see whether campaign finance laws had been broken, determined that none had been and decided “no further action was warranted.” It was not immediately clear why Barr would not go beyond that statement with a televised assertion that the president broke no laws, nor was it clear how forcefully the president’s desire was communicated.
“The story in the Amazon Washington Post, of course picked up by Fake News CNN, saying ‘President Trump asked for AG Barr to host a news conference clearing him on Ukraine,’ is totally untrue and just another FAKE NEWS story with anonymous sources that don’t exist,” Trump tweeted. “The LameStream Media, which is The Enemy of the People, is working overtime with made up stories in order to drive dissension and distrust!”
Trump added, “Years ago, when Media was legitimate, people known as ‘Fact Checkers’ would always call to check and see if a story was accurate. Nowadays they don’t use ‘Fact Checkers’ anymore, they just write whatever they want!”
….The LameStream Media, which is The Enemy of the People, is working overtime with made up stories in order to drive dissension and distrust!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2019
Years ago, when Media was legitimate, people known as “Fact Checkers” would always call to check and see if a story was accurate. Nowadays they don’t use “Fact Checkers” anymore, they just write whatever they want!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2019
In late September, the Associated Press reported that Barr was “was ‘surprised and angry’ to discover he had been lumped in with Giuliani” during Trump’s Ukraine phone call.
During the call, Trump told Zelensky, “I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call, and we will get to the bottom of it.”
The phone call was discovered after a leaker in the CIA, who is a registered Democrat, filed a whistleblower complaint against the administration that was based off of second-hand and third-hand accounts of the phone call.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, had members of his staff meet with the whistleblower before he filed the complaint; Schiff subsequently lied about his office’s involvement during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“We have not spoken directly with the whistleblower,” Schiff said on the show. “We would like to.”
The claim was so blatantly false that The Washington Post gave it “Four Pinocchios” during a fact-check report, the worst rating an individual can receive which The Post says represents “whoppers,” a gross or blatant lie.
Schiff then fabricated quotes from Trump’s Ukraine phone call during a congressional hearing, for which he was ultimately forced to apologize after he was widely condemned over it.
On Saturday, Trump slammed Schiff on Twitter, writing: “If Shifty Adam Schiff, who is a corrupt politician who fraudulently made up what I said on the ‘call,’ is allowed to release transcripts of the Never Trumpers & others that are & were interviewed, he will change the words that were said to suit the Dems purposes. Republicans should give their own transcripts of the interviews to contrast with Schiff’s manipulated propaganda. House Republicans must have nothing to do with Shifty’s rendition of those interviews. He is a proven liar, leaker & freak who is really the one who should be impeached!”
….should give their own transcripts of the interviews to contrast with Schiff’s manipulated propaganda. House Republicans must have nothing to do with Shifty’s rendition of those interviews. He is a proven liar, leaker & freak who is really the one who should be impeached!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2019