The White House is urging all federal agencies to cancel their subscriptions to The New York Times and the Washington Post, according to a CNN report on Thursday.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement Thursday that "not renewing subscriptions across all federal agencies will be a significant cost saving for taxpayers -- hundreds of thousands of dollars."
The move was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. It follows President Donald Trump's recent indication that the White House would "terminate" its existing subscriptions with the two newspapers, which have been the frequent target of the administration's criticism.
"The New York Times, which is a fake newspaper -- we don't even want it in the White House anymore. We're going to probably terminate that and the Washington Post," Trump told Fox News earlier this week.
"They're fake," the President added. "You take a look at the New York Times and you take a look at the kind of reporting they do, it was all -- it turned out to be all wrong."
Both newspapers recently published stories that drew Trump’s ire.
One of those stories, first reported by the Washington Post, claimed that a whistleblower revealed an alleged troubling conversation between Trump and a world leader later reported to involve Ukraine.
The New York Times reported about new sexual assault accusations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The newspaper later had to retract the report when it was revealed that Kavanaugh’s alleged victim does not even remember the incident.
Following those two publications, Trump lashed out at the media in a post on Twitter.
“The LameStream Media had a very bad week. They pushed numerous phony stories and got caught, especially The Failing New York Times, which has lost more money over the last 10 years than any paper in history, and The Amazon Washington Post. They are The Enemy of the People!” he wrote.
“The Fake News Media nowadays not only doesn’t check for the accuracy of the facts, they knowingly make up the facts. They even make up sources in order to protect their partners, the Democrats. It is so wrong, but they don’t even care anymore. They have gone totally CRAZY!!!!” added Trump.
Trump has been a long-time critic of the mainstream US media which he has repeatedly branded as “fake news”.
CNN noted that Trump isn't the first president to boycott a newspaper. President John F. Kennedy canceled White House subscriptions to the New York Herald Tribune over perceived bias. The White House eventually renewed its subscription.
New York Times COO Meredith Levien was asked at an event in New York for her response to Trump's call for the cancellation of the subscriptions.
"Maybe it means we can't host our next corporate retreat at the Trump hotel ... What's the saying? Do as I do, not as I say. He might be our most loyal reader, and I think people follow suit," she said Thursday.
The Washington Post declined to comment.