Donald Trump's team at war of words with US media

Key figures in Donald Trump's administration have become
embroiled in a fresh war of words with the media.


On Saturday the president had condemned media reporting of the number of people attending his inauguration.


White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said there was "an
obsession... to de-legitimise this president. We're not going to sit around and take it."


But photos show more people attended the inauguration of Mr
Trump's predecessor Barack Obama in 2009.


Mr Priebus said on Fox News Sunday that the "media from day one has been talking about de-legitimising the election". He said Mr Trump's presidency would fight such coverage "tooth and Nail every day".


The latest row was mainly sparked by the inauguration figures.

There were no official estimates. Mr Trump said during a visit to the CIA on Saturday that it "looked like a million and a half
people", but provided no evidence. He called reporters "among
the most dishonest human beings on Earth" for saying it was far lower.


His press secretary Sean Spicer outlined figures amounting to
720,000 people in Washington's National Mall, despite also saying that "no-one had numbers" for the inauguration.


Many US outlets, using photos of the National Mall showing the difference in numbers attending the 2009 inauguration and Mr Trump's, hit out at Mr Spicer's statements.

The New York Times denounced " false claims " and described the statements as a "striking display of invective and grievance at the dawn of a presidency".


Both CNN and ABC News went into detail to refute Mr Spicer's
claims.

Top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway also criticised the media
during a heated exchange on NBC.


She was challenged by presenter Chuck Todd who asked her why Mr Spicer's first appearance had been to "utter a probable
falsehood".


"If we are going to keep referring to our press secretary in those type of terms, I think we are going to have to rethink our
relationship here," she said.


Pressed on Mr Spicer's claims, she said he had been preventing "alternative facts".


"Alternative facts are not facts. They are falsehoods," Todd
replied.

Ms Conway insisted there was "no way to really quantify crowds" and, taking offence at a laugh from the reporter, said: "You can laugh at me all you want. It's symbolic of the way we are treated by the press the way you just laughed at me."


She also highlighted another issue that caused friction with the media - the Time Magazine reporter who incorrectly reported that a bust of civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr had been removed from the Oval Office. The reporter later apologised for the error.



"It puts lives at risk" - US media denounce "false claims"


The Washington Post said the falsehoods from the White House showed that "the traditional way of reporting on a president is dead". In future, news organisations should pay less attention to official statements, and instead focus on investigations into Mr Trump's administration, it said


Politico warned of "grave consequences" of the Trump team's "rocky relationship with the truth", quoting Democratic congressman Adam Schiff saying that "it absolutely puts lives at risk". The idea that the White House's "combat i ve approach" could also apply to "substantive matters of
government and national security... has many really worried", the website said


The Atlantic magazine also worried where the administration ' approach could take the country, saying: "If you're willing to lie about stuff this minuscule, why should anyone believe what you say about the really big things that matter?"


The Huffington Post was among those that called for a change in the way news organisations cover statements from the White House. "They should focus attention on the fact that the administration lied, not the content of the lie itself," it said


Mr Trump on Sunday tweeted about television ratings of the
inauguration, saying that 31 million people had watched, 11
million more than four years ago.


On Saturday, US ratings firm Nielsen said nearly 31 million had
watched the inauguration on television - higher than the 20.5
million that watched Mr Obama's second inauguration in 2013.


However, that was far fewer than the 38 million that watched Mr Obama's first inauguration in 2009 and the 42 million that
watched Ronald Reagan's first swearing-in in 1981, casting further doubts about Mr Spicer's claims of the "largest audience ever".


In his tweets, Mr Trump also referred to Saturday's day of
protests , when millions in the US and hundreds of thousands
around the globe took to the streets in some 600 demonstrations against his presidency.


His initial tweet said he was "under the impression that we just  had an election", asking: "Why didn't these people vote?"
A later tweet said that "peaceful protests are a hallmark of our
democracy".

In other Sunday morning media exchanges:


Kellyanne Conway told CBS programme Face the Nation that 20 million people relying on the soon-to-be-repealed
Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, would not go
without health care coverage during the transition to a new
plan


Ms Conway repeated that Mr Trump was not going to release
his tax returns


Reince Priebus said Mr Trump's first full week in office would
focus on trade, immigration and national security


Senior Trump ally Ted Malloch told the AP that Nato would
be reformed, with the possibility of "new institutions" and a
definite focus on ensuring European members paid more
towards the alliance