The New York Times has refuted Donald Trump’s claims that the newspaper is guilty of treason over a story it ran about alleged US cyber-attacks against Russia. The paper responded to the president’s tweet, noting that the country’s national security officials said there were “no concerns.”
The paper also warned that “accusing the press of treason is dangerous.”
Accusing the press of treason is dangerous.
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) June 16, 2019
We described the article to the government before publication. As our story notes, President Trump’s own national security officials said there were no concerns. https://t.co/MU020hxwdc pic.twitter.com/4CIfcqKoEl
Donald Trump, who began clashing with the newspaper and other American media outlets even before he was elected president, took to Twitter to lambast The NYT over its recent report suggesting that the US is stepping up digital attacks on Russia’s electric power grid. Trump branded it “not true” and “a virtual act of Treason,” also repeating his signature rant and calling the paper “the enemy of the people.”
.....ALSO, NOT TRUE! Anything goes with our Corrupt News Media today. They will do, or say, whatever it takes, with not even the slightest thought of consequence! These are true cowards and without doubt, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2019
The New York Times wrote, citing current and former government officials, that the US is escalating digital incursions into Russia’s electric power grid in an attempt to warn Russian President Vladimir Putin and aggressively show off how the Trump administration is willing to engage in cyber warfare.
The sources reportedly described a little covered deployment of American computer code inside Russia’s grid and other targets as a classified companion to more publicly discussed actions directed at Moscow around the 2018 midterm elections last October.
The article says that the administration declined to describe the specific actions it was taking under the new powers that were granted last year by the White House and Congress to the special US Cyber Command, the arm of the Pentagon that specialises in the military’s offensive and defensive cyber operations.