While Republican presidential candidates are notorious for not getting along with the media, President-elect Donald Trump has been a special snowflake, even by GOP standards.
This was particularly evident on Tuesday he took to Twitter to announce a planned meeting with The New York Times was canceled.
Here's what Trump had to say, in a 6 a.m. tweetstorm.
I cancelled today's meeting with the failing @nytimes when the terms and conditions of the meeting were changed at the last moment. Not nice
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016
Perhaps a new meeting will be set up with the @nytimes. In the meantime they continue to cover me inaccurately and with a nasty tone!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016
The failing @nytimes just announced that complaints about them are at a 15 year high. I can fully understand that - but why announce? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016
The New York Times, which said that they only found out about Trump's cancellation from his tweets, said the president-elect's claims were bogus.
Not true. Spox @NYTeileen says Trump tried to switch on record session with reporters to off record. He canceled via tweet when we refused. https://t.co/QKGg6sFzC1 — Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) November 22, 2016
NYT did not try to change ground rules. Trump did, asking for only a private meeting and no on-the-record segment, which NYT refused. https://t.co/EpmZFdDYAh
— Jonathan Mahler (@jonathanmahler) November 22, 2016
According to a statement by Eileen M. Murphy, the New York Times' senior vice president for communications, Trump was actually the one who tried to change the rules of the meeting, insisting that an on-the-record segment, on which both sides had previously agreed, be canceled.
"We were unaware that the meeting was canceled until we saw the president-elect’s tweet this morning," Murphy said. "We did not change the ground rules at all and made no attempt to. They tried to yesterday — asking for only a private meeting and no on-the-record segment, which we refused to agree to. In the end, we concluded with them that we would go back to the original plan of a small off-the-record session and a larger on-the-record session with reporters and columnists."
It's the second time Trump turned on the press after seemingly extending an olive branch in as many days.
Trump began the meeting by claiming that it was unprecedented for so many network news anchors to meet with a president-elect, according to NPR. When Wolf Blitzer corrected him and pointed out that it is actually traditional for presidents and presidents-elect to meet with members of the press, Trump pivoted to claim that the presence of the network executives made the meeting unprecedented.
Trump then reportedly went on rants against Jeffrey Zucker of CNN, NBC — who, among other things, he accused of always choosing pictures of him that had multiple chins — and an unspecified reporter who moderated one of the debates but was said to be upset when Clinton lost the election.
Although senior adviser Kellyanne Conway tried to intercede by saying that Trump wanted to hit the "resent" button with the press, participants seemed to agree that the old acrimony was still there. The meeting lasted for about an hour, with most of it being devoted questions about his policies and appointments after the initial awkward 10 to 15 minutes.
UPDATE: 10: 25 am
CNN's Brian Stelter tweeted that the meeting is back on.
New NYT statement: "the President Elect's meeting with The Times is on again" https://t.co/3NgEP33KWX pic.twitter.com/CiTi9ar2hd
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 22, 2016
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