No media issues for Trump ally

UNITED STATES: President Donald Trump’s defence secretary distanced himself from the president’s war on the media yesterday, calling journalists a constituency of the democratic process.

James Mattis’ comments came after his commander-in-chief declared the fourth estate the ‘‘enemy of the American people’’ and vowed to ‘‘expose them for what they are’’.

‘‘The press, as far as I’m concerned, are a constituency that we deal with,’’ Mattis said. ‘‘And I don’t have any issues with the press, myself.’’

Trump often mocked the ‘‘dishonest’’ media in his presidential campaign.

But since taking office, these denigrations have morphed from crowd-pleasing rhetoric into a strategy seemingly intended to discredit journalists’ unflattering revelations of dysfunction and division in his White House.

The president has regularly dismissed major US television networks and newspapers as the ‘‘fake news media’’, describing them as ‘‘lying’’, ‘‘corrupt’’, ‘‘failing’’, ‘‘the enemy’’ and ‘‘the opposition’’.

Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, warned that Trump’s attacks, which often come in the form of missives on Twitter, should be taken ‘‘seriously’’.

He described political reporting on Trump’s first month – one of the most turbulent of perhaps any presidency – as a ‘‘feeding frenzy’’ of ‘‘bogus’’ stories.

Priebus attacked as ‘‘total garbage’’ the media coverage of allegations that the Trump campaign may have colluded with Moscow in its alleged interference in the US election, despite the claims also being subject to a senate intelligence committee investigation.

He said journalists should report that Trump ‘‘has accomplished more in the first 30 days in this presidency than

"The press, as far as I'm concerned, are a constituency that we deal with." Defence Secretary James Mattis

people can remember in a long time’’.

The White House’s attacks on the press have drawn scathing criticism from US politicians, even within Republican ranks.

Lindsey Graham, a prominent conservative from South Carolina, said a free press ‘‘are worth fighting and dying for’’. He said he believed US media had become too ‘‘hysterical’’ in its reporting of Trump, but added: ‘‘The enemies of democracy at the end of the day are not the press. It’s Russia. It’s Iran and radical Islam.’’

A senior Trump administration official was fired at the weekend after criticising the president’s Latin America policies.

Craig Deare, who headed the Western Hemisphere division of the National Security Council, made the remarks at a Washington think tank.

He is the second senior NSC official to leave in under a week after Trump’s national security adviser, retired General Michael Flynn, resigned. –Telegraph Group