Washington Post being used as lobbyist weapon by Amazon: Trump

[caption id="attachment_128638" align="alignleft" width="550"] President Donald Trump looks over as a White House intern removes a piece of lint from as they poses for a photo in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 24.[/caption] Washington, July 25 (PTI/IANS): U.S. President Donald Trump has attacked The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, alleging that the daily is being used against Congress for mounting pressure on politicians so that they do not look into the e-commerce giant’s alleged tax-monopoly. Mr. Trump accused The Post of filing incorrect stories. “Is fake news Washington Post being used as a lobbyist weapon against Congress to keep politicians from looking into Amazon no—tax monopoly?” he said in a series of tweets late last night. “So many stories about me in the @washingtonpost are Fake News. They are as bad as ratings challenged @CNN. Lobbyist for Amazon and taxes?” Mr. Trump asked. “The Amazon Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad,” he said as he challenged The Post for writing a story on Syria, which he said is wrong. In a lead story, The Post said that cooperation with Russia is becoming a central part of the Trump administration’s counter-Islamic State strategy in Syria. U.S. military planners are counting on Moscow to try to prevent Syrian government forces and their allies on the ground from interfering in coalition-backed operations against the militants, the daily said. However, according to the daily, some lawmakers and White House officials have expressed concern that the shortsighted strategy gives the long-term advantage in Syria to Russia, Iran and Assad, and ultimately leaves the door open for a vanquished Islamic State to re-establish itself.

Trump calls Sessions ‘very weak’ on ‘Clinton crimes’

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday continued his public criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, calling his appointed head of the Justice Department “very weak” on “Hillary Clinton crimes”. “Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign -- ‘quietly working to boost Clinton.’ So where is the investigation A.G.,” Trump wrote in the first of several Tuesday morning tweets. His latest Twitter onslaught came amid reports that Trump was consulting advisers about possibly firing the country’s top prosecutor, ABC News reported. “Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!” Trump said in another tweet. Trump had earlier made it clear he was unhappy with Sessions for recusing himself from an FBI inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. “How do you take a job and then recuse yourself?” Trump had told The New York Times. “If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I can’t, you know, I’m not going to take you’.” Trump said that Sessions’ recusal was “extremely unfair, and that’s a mild word, to the President”. The President’s new Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci fanned speculation on Tuesday that Sessions’ days could be numbered. When he was asked if Trump was thinking to fire Sessions, Scaramucci said: “If there’s this level of tension in the relationship that’s public, you’re probably right.” Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also said that the President was “frustrated and disappointed” in Sessions. “I know that (the President) is certainly frustrated and disappointed in the Attorney General for recusing himself,” Sanders said on “Fox and Friends.” “He is continuing to move forward and focus on other things. But that frustration certainly hasn’t gone away, and I don’t think it will.” When asked if Trump wants Sessions out as Attorney General, the spokeswoman said that is a “decision if the President wants to make, he certainly will.” Despite the public criticism from Trump, Sessions said last week he plans to stay on as Attorney General, “as long as that is appropriate”.