President Donald Trump has had much to say about fake news in the media and the use of anonymous sources, but Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino is among the reporters who claim the president himself has been among the unnamed sources over the years, Reason reported Friday.
While campaigning at a rally Thursday for Montana Auditor Matt Rosendale, a Republican running for the Senate, Trump once again laid into the use of anonymous sources in news reports.
"They quote sources. 'A source within the Trump Organization said.' A source. They don't have a source. They never use names anymore. The old days, you have to use names. 'Jim Smith said that Donald Trump is a bad guy.' They don't do that anymore. They say 'a source within the administration,'" Trump said.
"They make the sources up. They don't exist in many cases... I saw one of them said 15 anonymous sources. I don't have 15 people — forget it. 15 anonymous sources have said all sorts of stuff. These are really bad people," he continued.
Gasparino quickly responded to Trump's comments on Twitter, saying the president's "anonymous source schtick is complete BS."
"Just heard @POTUS at this rally complaining about the use of anonymous sources. For the record he was one of mine over the years," Gasparino tweeted Thursday.
"I'm ok w @POTUS personally always got along w him but this anonymous source schtick is complete BS he knows it," he wrote in a second tweet.
Apparently, it isn't new news among reporters that Trump posed as an anonymous source before becoming president. Axios' Jonathan Swan has called Trump "one of the Manhattan media's most notorious anonymous sources" back when he was running his real estate empire. He would also pose as his own publicist when talking to reporters using names including "John Barron" or "John Miller," the article explained.
And, Trump continues leaking information to reporters in his role as president, according to Ronald Kessler, author of "The Trump White House."
"Trump phones Maggie Haberman of The New York Times directly, as well as Philip Rucker of The Washington Post, and Jonathan Swan of Axios, feeding them stories attributed to 'a senior White House official,' creating the impression the White House leaks even more than it already does," Kessler wrote.
These claims are juxtaposed against a backdrop of the Trump administration's war on leaks, as last year Attorney General Jeff Sessions forewarned the media that the Justice Department may subpoena reporters to investigate leaks in the White House. In addition, last month the DOJ ordered that phone and email records of a New York Times reporter alleged to have had an affair with a former Senate aide be turned over to the department.
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