White House says it's building 'very large' file against reporter investigating Trump Org

The Washington Post on Thursday reported that the Trump Organization has charged American taxpayers at least $900,000 since Donald Trump took office, the vast majority of which was spent on trips to Trump’s own properties.

That number is approximate, as neither the Trump Organization nor the White House would give the Post the full dollar amount taxpayers have spent on Trump’s travel to his properties in multiple states. So far, according to NBC News, he has spent 378 days at Trump-branded properties, more than a full year of his first term in office.

Responding to the Post’s inquiries for its report, the White House threatened David Fahrenthold, the lead reporter on the story.

“The Washington Post is blatantly interfering with the business relationships of the Trump Organization, and it must stop,” White House spokesperson Judd Deere said in a statement to the paper. “Please be advised that we are building up a very large ‘dossier’ on the many false David Fahrenthold and others stories as they are a disgrace to journalism and the American people.”

Deere did not point to anything that was false in the story, which was written based on federal spending documents the Post obtained through lawsuits.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it thinks it’s appropriate to threaten a reporter, nor did it comment on whether it disputes that taxpayer funds have been used on Trump’s trips to his own properties.

The Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The threats against Fahrenthold are part of Trump’s pattern of attacking the media when it reports anything he doesn’t like.

Trump has sued media outlets for what he calls “”false and defamatory statements” when they report facts that he doesn’t like. He has also sued political organizations for running factual ads.

Fahrenthold won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for his work investigating Trump’s false assertions of donating to charity.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.