Donald Trump went on the offensive against the US media on Wednesday, slamming coverage of $6 million he claimed to raise for veterans, branding the political press “dishonest” and one journalist “a sleaze.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has a thin skin when it comes to perceived slights in the media, slammed the Press for questioning his claim to have raised $6 million on one night in Iowa in January.
The former reality TV star annihilated 16 rivals in the race to sew up the Republican nomination for the White House, and is trailing Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton by just a few percentage points in recent polls.
last January, he skipped a Republican debate hosted by Fox News in a row over the television channel’s perceived bias and instead hosted a fundraising event for veterans’ charities.
Trump said he had raised $5.6 mn, of which every penny had been donated to veteran charities, and that he expected additional donations to tip the figure over the $6 million mark. “The press should be ashamed,” he said. “I have never received such bad publicity for doing such a good job,” Trump added.