In a series of tweets on Thursday morning expressing his frustration with press coverage of his administration, President Donald Trump again accused the media of using anonymous sources to develop stories which he charged are "pure fiction" - as the President then appeared to make up a story about an NBC News interview he gave just after firing FBI Director James Comey.
In a tweet attacking NBC, the President said, "When Lester Holt got caught fudging my tape on Russia, they were hurt badly!"
No evidence has ever been put forward by the White House or any media watchdog that NBC edited the tape of the interview that Holt did with President Trump in May of 2017, where the President all but confirmed that he had fired Comey out of frustration over the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, and any possible ties to the Trump Campaign.
It appeared to be the first time that the President had made such a charge against Holt, the anchor of the NBC Nightly News.
"I said to myself, I said 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won,'" the President said in the interview, which was posted in its entirety by NBC, and remains online.
In the fifteen months since that interview, the President has never before questioned the contents of the tape, as today's tweet was the first time he had ever mentioned Lester Holt by name on Twitter.
It was clear that the Holt interview - and how the details led some to charge that Mr. Trump was trying to obstruct justice in the Russia probe - was on the President's mind this morning.
Mr. Trump provided no evidence of how NBC supposedly edited the May 2017 interview, in which the President discussed his reasons for firing Comey, a move which led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
In earlier tweets today, the President laid into the press, accusing them of using anonymous sources to produce 'fiction' about his administration.
"I just cannot state strongly enough how totally dishonest much of the Media is," the President wrote on Twitter.
"Truth does not matter to them, they only have their hatred & agenda," Mr. Trump added in a series of tweets which started Wednesday night.
"Enemy of the People!" the President said.
One might expect Mr. Trump will bring up the press at a campaign rally this evening in Evansville, Indiana, as reporters gathered for his events are often a convenient foil for the President when he is on the road, drawing boos and catcalls, and a frequent chant as well of, "CNN Sucks!"
