NYT Snipes Back at Trump Comms Chief Who Called Disaster Aid Reporting ‘Complete Fiction’

Mark Lennihan/Evan Vucci/AP photos

The New York Times has fired back at President Donald Trump’s top communications chief, who slammed a recent report implying that the administration would withhold state aid if a state voted Democrat.

The article, posted on Wednesday and entitled “Trump Ties Disaster Aid to Votes as Midterm Fight Heats Up,” quotes Carnegie Endowment for International Peace senior fellow Sarah Labowitz, who told the paper, “People are smart enough to know that if the president wants to take away some people’s disaster aid, they can take away your disaster aid, and that’s just a bad system.”

The story attracted the ire of White House communications director Steven Cheung, who attacked The Times and Labowitz.

“This story is complete fiction,” Cheung said in an X post on Thursday. “Nobody is withholding any disaster aid. The “expert” the NYT cites is actually a Democrat donor and extreme liberal nut job.”

Attached to his post was a list of the Democratic causes Labowitz has donated to, including “Harris for President” and “Act Blue.”

The Times issued a scathing response to Cheung’s post on Thursday afternoon.

As our article factually reports, any suggestion that the administration is withholding aid comes directly from words spoken by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

The Times also provided a gift link to the full report, inviting Cheung to read it himself.

—

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!