Investigative journalism site ProPublica fired back at Sean Spicer on Monday, after the White House press secretary called it a “left-wing blog” and downplayed its report on President Donald Trump’s finances.
The report, published on Monday, claimed an unreported clause in Trump’s trust document allows the president to draw money from his 400 businesses without disclosing it.
When confronted with the report at his daily press briefing, Spicer attempted to discredit the source.
“I’m not aware there was any change” to the trust, Spicer said. “Just because a left-wing blog makes the point of something changing doesn’t mean it actually happened.”
The response from ProPublica was fierce. In a lengthy series of tweets, the nonprofit news site picked apart Spicer’s claim and defended itself from the accusation of partisan bias.
Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/849000820318371841
1/ So @seanspicer just called us a “left-wing blog.” Since we’re actually in the biz of facts, we figured we’d respond w/ a few…
First, ProPublica set out to prove Trump’s trust document had, in fact, been changed to allow Trump to draw money from his businesses without disclosing it.
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https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/849001095494021120
.@seanspicer 4/ The Trump trust doc was revised & signed Feb. 10. Here you go, @seanspicer: https://t.co/f1SgoNeIJ1 pic.twitter.com/9odXRrFEjV
Next, it sought to prove its journalistic merit by reviving previously published investigative pieces that were damaging to the Trump administration.
Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/849001501225873408
.@seanspicer 7/ The fact that Tom Price bought drug company stock same day he pushed policy that could help the company. https://t.co/nica3s6oi1Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/849001728347430917
.@seanspicer 10/ Or the fact that 5 top Trump officials have made false statements to Congress:https://t.co/xQGhQwEWaF
Then, it combated Spicer’s “left-wing” accusation by providing examples of times it published reports embarrassing to President Barack Obama.
Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/849001875835957248
.@seanspicer 12/ So, we wrote about fact that Obama caved to big banks and didn’t deliver on his promises to help homeowners: https://t.co/DnhEUzJIoPTweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/849002030274404357
.@seanspicer 14/ And wrote about how Obama was falling short on his own promises to grant pardons. https://t.co/eYO0xJLcT5
All that was left was to stick the landing.
Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/849002109852930055
.@seanspicer 15/ So any other facts you’d like to know, @seanspicer?
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