US President Donald Trump blasted the newspapers that won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting Russia’s alleged involvement in the 2016 US presidential election.
As the US Department of Justice agrees to drop the criminal complaint against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn in connection with the Russian diplomat.
While speaking to reporters at the White House Oval Office Trump said, “They’re not reporters. They’re the robbers. All the journalists we see with the Pulitzer Prize should be compelled to give up those prizes because they were all incorrect. You’ve seen it recently, more papers have come out that there’s definitely no interference with Russia.”
Trump called the Russian conspiracy report a fake one, and said that because the report is completely false, it’s a ‘disgrace’ for the newspapers to win awards.
“Pulitzer prizes should all be returned because you know what, they’ve been given away unfairly. It’s fake news, they’re all fake news. Those Pulitzer prizes should be returned immediately because the Pulitzer Committee, or whoever gives the prizes, they’re a shame because they give those prizes back because they got Pulitzer prizes for what turned out to be false reports,” Trump said.
He also named Flynn a ‘true gentleman’ and accused the administration of former US President Barack Obama of abusing him.
“Flynn is a fine guy, he was targeted by the Obama administration, and he was targeted to try to take down the president, and what they’ve done is a shame, and I hope a big price is going to be charged, a big price is going to be paid. There’s never been anything like this in our country’s history,” Trump said.
Flynn was accused of being a security threat by the U.S. law enforcement officials who prosecuted him.
Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about his connection with a Russian diplomat in 2017.
A plea deal was signed between Flynn and Robert Mueller’s special counsel, as Flynn agreed to collaborate in the investigation of suspected Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential elections.