Depending on sex inhome videoswhich side of the bed he wakes up on, Donald Trump tends to either love or hate the "failing" New York Times.
Thursday night marked a new step in their relationship: Trusted news source.
In an interview on Fox News, Trump credited the newspaper with having provided the reporting on which he based the claim that Barack Obama had been spying on him.
Carlson pushed Trump on why he decided to tweet out the accusation based on just the Timesand a report by Brett Baier, which sent Trump through a loop trying to explain why he would suddenly trust the paper.
"Why not wait to tweet about it until you can prove it? Don't you devalue your words when you can't provide evidence?" Carlson asked.
Trump responded: "Well, because 'The New York Times' wrote about it. Not that I respect 'The New York Times.' I call it the failing 'New York Times.' But they did write on January 20 using the word wiretap."
Trump's comments are among the first justification he has provided for his Twitter-based accusation in early March in which he claimed that Obama had tapped his phones.
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It would appear Trump is referring to this piece from January 19, in which the paper reported that U.S. intelligence agencies had been looking into "communications and financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials" and Trump associates.
Of course, that doesn't even come close to incriminating Obama. U.S intelligence operatives are constantly keeping eyes and ears on foreign agents, which means that they can sometimes end up also listening to conversations involving Americans. That is basically their job.
That said, it's not hard to imagine how Trump reached the conclusion that the Timeshad shown evidence that Obama had tapped Trump's phones. If you assume the president has complete and total control of the intelligence agencies and wields un-checked authority to tap phones, then... sure?
Later in the interview, Trump would revisit the Timeswhen talking about the broader work of journalists covering him and his administration, referring to reporters as "some of the finest people I know," then a few sentences later decrying "fakes news," arguing that he's received more dishonest press than anyone in history and referring to stories about him as a "complete hit job."
It does not come as much of a surprise that Trump reads the Times, but Thursday marked one of the few times he has publicly sourced the paper for his claims. Since taking office, Trump has routinely criticized the Timesfor its coverage, which has included a variety of articles chronicling the confusion, fear and general dysfunction in and around the Trump White House.
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