White House press secretary Sean Spicer demanded an apology from The New York Times for publishing an article containing eye-opening details about President Trump’s earliest days in office, even disputing whether the president owns a bathrobe.
“That report was so riddled with inaccuracies and lies that they owe the president an apology,” Spicer told reporters aboard Air Force One Monday. “There were just literally blatant factual errors and it’s unacceptable to see that kind of reporting or so-called reporting.”
The article describes Trump’s routine after normal business hours, when he reportedly watches television in a bathrobe or marks up negative news articles with a Sharpie.
{mosads}Spicer took issue with that and other specific anecdotes in the story.
“I don’t think the president owns a bathrobe; he definitely doesn’t wear one,” the spokesman said. “From top to bottom they made up stories that just don’t exist. And I think that’s unfortunate.”
Soon after Spicer made the remark, old photos of Trump donning a bathrobe began to circulate on social media.
Trump himself appeared to take issue with the story earlier Monday, tweeting that the newspaper “writes total fiction” by “making up stories and sources.”
“We stand by our story,” Danielle Rhoades Ha, the newspaper’s vice president of communications, said in an email.
The Times also reported Trump had not been fully briefed on an executive order he signed giving senior counselor Stephen Bannon a permanent seat on the National Security Council’s Principal’s Committee.
But Spicer also pushed back on that assertion.
“The president is clearly aware of the policies that come out of the White House with his name on it,” he said.
“The president was briefed on all aspects,” he continued. “When it comes to decisions and policy, it’s the president who leads. The president tells us how to implement it.”