White House vows to fight media ‘tooth and nail’ over Trump coverage

WASHINGTON (Reuters/AFP) – The White House vowed on Sunday to fight the news media “tooth and nail” over what it sees as unfair attacks, with a top adviser saying the Trump administration had presented “alternative facts” to counter low inauguration crowd estimates.

A day after unexpectedly massive anti-Trump protests in Washington and in hundreds of towns and cities around the world, the new

president turned to Twitter to mock the many who had filled the streets.

“Why didn’t these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly,” Trump tweeted early Sunday, referring to the actors, singers, writers and filmmakers who took the stage at the Washington march to speak against the new president.

An hour later, adopting a more conciliatory tone, he tweeted that “peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy.”

“Even if I don’t always agree,” he said, “I recognize the rights of people to express their views.”

More than two million people are estimated to have taken part in the women-led marches organized in the United States and around the world to defend women’s rights and oppose an array of policy stances from the new president.

Trump, facing unfavorable comparisons to the turnout for his inauguration a day earlier, launched a sharp attack Saturday on the news media, saying they lied about the numbers watching his swearing-in.

“It looked like a million, million and a half people,” he said, adding that “all the way back to the Washington Monument was packed.”

The Capitol, where Trump took the oath of office, is just over a mile (two kilometers) from the monument.

On his first full day as president, Trump said he had a “running war” with the media and accused journalists of underestimating the number of people who turned out Friday for his swearing-in.