John Wagner

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that they had reached an agreement with President Donald Trump to try to craft a $2 trillion plan aimed at overhauling the nation’s ailing roads, bridges, waterways and other infrastructure, including broadband. Sen Schumer said that the bulk of the meeting focused on what kind of investments should be made. Besides spending on roads and bridges, there was agreement that money should be aimed at extending broadband in rural areas and inner cities, as well as improving power grids, Sen Schumer said.

President Donald Trump sought to discredit a news report that says he asked his then-acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker whether he could put a Trump ally in charge of an investigation into hush money paid to women during the 2016 campaign. “The New York Times reporting is false,” President Trump said in a tweet. “They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!” President Trump was asked on Feb 19, after the Times story published online, about his reported inquiry to Whitaker. “No, I don’t know who gave you that, that’s more fake news,” President Trump told reporters.

President Donald Trump launched a fresh attack on the news media, writing in tweets that it consists of many “crazed lunatics,” and he again invoked the derogatory term “enemy of the people.” “With all of the success that our Country is having, including the just released jobs numbers which are off the charts, the Fake News & totally dishonest Media concerning me and my presidency has never been worse,” President Trump said in the first of the tweets.

President Donald Trump defended his proclivity to spread misleading statements and falsehoods, saying that he tells the truth when he can. “Well, I try. I do try...and I always want to tell the truth,” President Trump said. “When I can, I tell the truth. And sometimes it turns out to be where something happens that’s different or there’s a change, but I always like to be truthful." President Trump also took issue with the media’s estimates of the sizes of caravans of Central American migrants slowly making their way toward the United States.

President Donald Trump complained about the news coverage he has received related to the alleged pipe bomber, saying a different standard was applied to then-President Barack Obama when nine black worshipers were killed at a church in Charleston (SC) during his tenure. “I was in the headline of The Washington Post, my name associated with this crazy bomber,” President Trump said.

President Donald Trump lashed out anew at the news media, calling it “the true Enemy of the People,” and he again blamed what he called “fraudulent” reporting for anger that has led to a spate of recent violence in the country. "There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly.

President Donald Trump doubled down on blaming the media for the nation’s incivility, as suspicious packages sent by a suspected serial bomber continued to target President Trump’s outspoken critics. “A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News,” the president said. “It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description.

Joe Arpaio, the former AZ sheriff who finished a distant third in 2018 in a Republican Senate primary, filed a libel suit against the New York Times and a member of its editorial board, arguing that they had undercut his chances for another run.

President Donald Trump sought to clarify how much of the press he sees as “the enemy of the people.” He put it at about 80 percent. During an interview at the White House with Fox News, he was asked: “Is the press the enemy of the people?” “No, not at all. But the fake news is,” President Trump told Ainsley Earhardt of “Fox & Friends.” “And the fake news is comprised of — it’s a lot. It’s a big chunk, okay? Somebody said, ‘What’s the chunk?’ I said, ‘80 percent.’ It’s a lot. It’s a lot. If I do something well, it’s not reported.

As her husband continued to rip into his adversaries on Twitter, first lady Melania Trump warned that social media can be used in a “destructive and harmful” manner during remarks at a conference on preventing cyberbullying. “In today’s global society, social media is an inevitable part of our children’s daily lives,” the first lady said.