Donald Trump is known for a meandering, off-the-cuff verbal style but the president-elect’s first formal press conference since the campaign carried a strong theme throughout. The linchpin? BuzzFeed is the worst.
He took countless swings at the New York Media giant but one, in particular, stood out. Trump called BuzzFeed “a failing pile of garbage” that will “suffer the consequences” for publishing a dossier alleging strong ties between the president-elect and Russian government. The report also claims Russian officials have dirt on Trump.
“It’s a disgrace that information would be let out,” Trump said earlier in the press conference.
BuzzFeed News covered the press conference, including those comments, but hasn’t issued a response to the attack as an organization.
BuzzFeed, which likely enjoyed a traffic boost from all the attention during the press conference, is actually one the biggest and most widely read news sites. But despite its success, BuzzFeed does face frequent criticism for sensationalism and click-bait content.
CNN initially reported the Russia dossier, though it was BuzzFeed that published the raw documents. When a CNN reporter pressed Trump to answer a question during the news conference, he refused, shouting, “you are fake news!”
Vice President Mike Pence and incoming Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who introduced Trump, also took aim at BuzzFeed. Spicer called the story “salacious and false,” while Pence accused BuzzFeed of willfully trying to delegitimize Trump’s campaign and administration.
Trump spent most of the press conference defending against allegations of hacking and Trump’s relationship with the Russian government. Read more on Trump’s comments about the tech industry’s role in “hacking defense” here.
