Trump: Fake News Media Fading Fast

As investigations widen into his campaign's contacts with Russian officials prior to the election following news reports citing sources inside and outside the intelligence community, President Donald Trump Thursday continued his attacks on "low-life leakers" and the "FAKE NEWS media."

In his latest series of tweets, the President said: "Leaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years. Failing @nytimes (and others) must apologize," followed by "The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers! They will be caught!" He then tweeted "FAKE NEWS media, which makes up stories and 'sources,' is far more effective than the discredited Democrats - but they are fading fast!"

The reference to "low-life" leakers finally getting caught is likely a reference to a letter from Hill Republicans to the Department of Justice Inspector General this week calling for an investigation into the leaks.

The New York Timesreported Wednesday that Trump campaign aides had repeated contacts with Russian intelligence officials, citing phone intercepts by law enforcement and intelligence agencies and four "current and former American officials."

Those officials said they had seen no evidence of any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians in hacking or other attempts to influence the election but were alarmed by the frequency of the calls and amount of contact, said the Times.

That Times story was re-reported widely by other media.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.