WaPo Hits Back: Report Trump Called ‘Fake’ Led To Flynn’s Ouster

The executive editor of the Washington Post on Friday dismissed President Donald Trump’s apparent allegation that the paper had “made up” sources while reporting on the White House.

In a statement to the Post’s Erik Wemple, executive editor Marty Baron referred to the newspaper’s report that led to the ouster of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who discussed sanctions on the phone with Russia’s ambassador to the United States before Trump was inaugurated. Flynn was fired after it came to light that he misrepresented the nature of that call to the vice president.

“Everything we published regarding Gen. Flynn was true, as confirmed by subsequent events and on-the-record statements from administration officials themselves,” Baron told Wemple. “The story led directly to the general’s dismissal as national security adviser. Calling press reports fake doesn’t make them so.”

The Post’s story cited nine unnamed “current and former officials, who were in senior positions at multiple agencies at the time of the calls.”

Trump railed against the use of unnamed sources Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, despite the fact that his own administration frequently feeds statements to journalists on condition of anonymity. He accused an unspecified publication of making up sources for a story.

“A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are. They are the enemy of the people,” he said. “Because they have no sources, they just make them up when there are none. I saw one story recently where they said nine people have confirmed. There are no nine people. I don’t believe there was one or two people. Nine people. And I said, ‘give me a break,’ because I know the people. I know who they talked to.”