Identity Of White House Official Who Trump Said, ‘Does Not Exist’ In New York Times Article Revealed
In a series of tweets on Saturday, President Donald Trump accused the New York Times of using a source “who doesn’t exist.”
Trump apparently took issue with the New York Times article titled, “Trump Says North Korea Summit May Be Rescheduled.” The news story stated that the canceled U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore, if reinstated, would not be held on June 12, as it would be “impossible,” because of the short time frame. New York Times, here, was quoting the official White House source.
On Friday, a day after canceling the summit, President Trump had told reporters that it was still possible that his meeting with the North Korean leader could happen on June 12, thereby contradicting the remarks of the White House official.
Trump tweeted, “Unlike what the failing and corrupt New York Times would like people to believe, there is ZERO disagreement within the Trump Administration as to how to deal with North Korea…and if there was, it wouldn’t matter. The New York Times has called me wrong right from the beginning!”
Trump also told the media house to “use real people, not phony sources.”
According to a report by the Washington Post, the senior White House staff spoke to a bunch of reporters on Thursday at the White House as well as on a conference call to brief them on the president’s decision to cancel the June 12 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in Singapore.
President Trump falsely accused The New York Times on Saturday of making up a source in an article about North Korea, even though the source was in fact a senior White House official speaking to a large group of reporters in the White House briefing room https://t.co/xT3SGcaE8j
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 27, 2018
The senior White House official reportedly told journalists that even if the Trump-Kim Jong-Un meeting were reinstated, scheduling it on June 12 would be impossible, given the lack of time and the amount of planning required.
When reporters tried to reach the White House press office for a comment regarding the statement on North Korea and the president’s tweets about New York Times, the White House did not respond.
A few reporters, who took to Twitter, revealed the identity of the White House source. They alleged that Matt Pottinger, who serves on the National Security Council, was the source that told them about the rescheduling of the U.S.-North Korea summit.
Pottinger is a former journalist and U.S. Marine Corps officer who is currently serving in the U.S. National Security Council of the Trump administration.
According to a report by Daily Mail, the audio of the off-the-record meeting also surfaced along with Pottinger’s name.
Here are a bunch of tweets by the journalists who exposed Pottinger as the source.
So President Trump denied the existence of a senior White House official, Matt Pottinger, who gave a formal briefing to journalists about the Korea summit. That's the kind of thing one expects in North Korea, not in the US.
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) May 26, 2018
Here's the name of the senior White House official Trump said the NYT invented.
Journalists don't need to honour an anonymity agreement about an official policy briefing if the president is going to weaponize that anonymity to lie about the journalists. https://t.co/cN1Q7IIW7x
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) May 26, 2018
