NYT warns Trump of press attacks

January 1 meeting did little to improve president’s ties with news media

The publisher of the New York Times said Sunday he warned Donald Trump in a White House meeting that the president’s escalating attacks on the news media are “dangerous and harmful to our country” and “will lead to violence.”

But the meeting with A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the prestigious newspaper since January 1, appeared to do little to improve Trump’s tense and testy relationship with the press.

On Twitter, the president blasted what he called the “anti-Trump haters in the dying newspaper industry.” The president’s meeting with Sulzberger took place on July 20, following a request from the White House for what appeared to be a routine get-to-know-you session.

The meeting, which also included Times editorial page editor James Bennet, had remained secret at the White House’s request, according to Sulzberger.

“Had a very good and interesting meeting at the White House with A.G. Sulzberger,” Trump said.

“Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People.’ Sad!”

Sulzberger, in a statement released hours later by the Times, said the president’s tweet effectively “put the meeting on the record,” and he described what appeared to be an unusually blunt session with the president.

“I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous,” Sulzberger said.

“I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists ‘the enemy of the people.’ I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.”

With some foreign leaders using Trump’s language “to justify sweeping crackdowns on journalists, I warned that it was putting lives at risk.”

Sulzberger concluded: “I implored him to reconsider his broader attacks on journalism, which I believe are dangerous and harmful to our country.”

Beyond confirming that the meeting took place, the White House has provided no details. But Trump issued a string of four tweets a few hours after reports of the meeting emerged.