White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham accused the New York Times of “weaponizing journalism” against President Trump.
Grisham lashed out at the news outlet, which her boss often dubs a purveyor of fake news, while commenting on the emergence of decade-old tweets from New York Times politics editor Tom Wright-Piersanti that have been criticized as offensive and racist.
“I am disgusted but not surprised by this latest revelation out of the New York Times,” Grisham said in a statement to Breitbart. “Will there be consequences? Doubtful. The New York Times is too busy weaponizing journalism to harass this President and the people who work for him to bother holding their own people accountable.”
Wright-Piersanti apologized for his “offensive” tweets, including one in 2010 that said “HAPPY Jew Year,” on Thursday. “I am deeply sorry,” he said.
New York Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha told the Washington Examiner that they are “aware of these tweets, which are a clear violation of our standards.” She added, “We are reviewing next steps.”
This is not the first time the Times has dealt with controversial social media behavior by its employees. Last week, the New York Times demoted former deputy Washington editor Jonathan Weisman for “serious lapses in judgment” in recent Twitter posts.
In August 2018, New York Times editorial board member Sarah Jeong was found to have tweeted such messages as “Dumbass f—ing white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants” as recent as 2014. The outlet took no action against Jeong, saying that she was “imitating the rhetoric of her harassers.” The paper added that it does not condone Jeong’s old tweets.
The statement from Grisham comes shortly after the Times published a piece headlined, “Stephanie Grisham’s Turbulent Ascent to a Top White House Role,” which discusses how the 42-year-old divorced mother of two “has shown a willingness to publicly assail those who displease the president.” Grisham, who was working as first lady Melania Trump’s press secretary, took on the jobs of White House press secretary and communications director roughly two months ago.
It also follows Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the New York Times, saying recently the paper will shift the focus of its coverage from the Trump-Russia affair to Trump and race. “We built our newsroom to cover one story, and we did it truly well,” he said. “Now we have to regroup, and shift resources and emphasis to take on a different story.”
Trump tweeted over the weekend that the Times has engaged in a “racist witch hunt.”
