Thread by @cliffordlevy

New: Statement from A.G. Sulzberger, @nytimes publisher: "My main purpose for accepting the meeting was to raise concerns about the president’s deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric.”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1023546197129224192

@nytimes He added: "I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous. I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news' is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists 'the enemy of the people.’"

@nytimes Read the full statement from A.G. Sulzberger, @nytimes publisher, about his meeting with @realDonaldTrump

@nytimes @realDonaldTrump Important to emphasize that it is not at all unusual for @nytimes publishers to meet with U.S. presidents.
And the meetings are often off the record.
But @realDonaldTrump put this one on the record by tweeting about it.
bit.ly/2M2J0WU

@nytimes @realDonaldTrump And A.G. Sulzberger, @nytimes publisher, took detailed notes during the meeting.
Sulzberger made clear to the president that his rhetoric about journalists being “the enemy of the people” was deeply troubling.
bit.ly/2M2J0WU

@nytimes @realDonaldTrump Just as an aside:
I spent 5 years as an @nytimes correspondent in Russia.
The phrase “enemy of the people” was a key propaganda weapon that the Soviet regime used against dissidents.
bit.ly/2M2J0WU

Our story:
New York Times Publisher Rebuts Trump’s Account of Private Meeting
nyti.ms/2NUp7BT

Pivotal moment that should resonate in newsrooms everywhere:
Trump expressed pride in popularizing the phrase "fake news" and said other countries were banning it. Sulzberger responded that those countries were dictatorships banning independent scrutiny.
nyti.ms/2NUp7BT

A.G. Sulzberger’s direct challenge to @realDonaldTrump over his anti-journalism rhetoric has clearly struck a nerve. It’s No. 1 on Apple News.