Attacks Washington Post

Trump attacks Washington Post as ‘guardian’ of Amazon’s tax practices

By LOUIS NELSON

President Donald Trump wrapped up an attack on a favorite media target, The Washington Post, and the tax practices of Amazon into one online post Wednesday, complaining that the “fake news” newspaper was protecting the online retailer from tax liabilities with its coverage.

“The #AmazonWashingtonPost, sometimes referred to as the guardian of Amazon not paying internet taxes (which they should) is FAKE NEWS!” Trump wrote online Wednesday.

It is not the first time that Trump has suggested that Amazon should be paying more than it currently does in taxes. In a speech outlining his 100-day action plan last October in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Trump remarked that “Amazon, which through its ownership controls the Washington Post, should be paying massive taxes but it’s not paying. It’s a very unfair playing field and you see what that’s doing to department stores all over the country.”

Trump’s criticism of the Post comes amid a multi-day tirade against what he believes to be unfair media coverage of his administration, spurred by a since-retracted CNN report that congressional investigators were looking into a meeting between Trump transition team member Anthony Scaramucci and the head of a Russian investment fund. Three CNN journalists involved in the story’s publication, including a Pulitzer Prize-winner, resigned in the wake of the retraction.

And the president’s Wednesday labeling of the Post as “fake news” comes one day after the newspaper reported that at least four of the president’s golf properties have on display a fake cover of Time magazine featuring Trump on the cover and fawning headlines about his former reality TV show, “The Apprentice.”