Under fire, Trump says 'Stars and Stripes' funding won't be cut
Impeached and manifestly unfit U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday, after much criticism, that the Pentagon will not cut funding for the military's independent newspaper, Stars and Stripes.
The presidential tweet would appear to put a stop to Defense leaders' plan to shut Stars and Stripes down at the end of this month.
@realDonaldTrump vowed Friday not to allow the Pentagon's planned shutdown of Stars and Stripes, as senators this week implored Defense Secretary Mark Esper to continue funding the editorially independent news organization. https://t.co/6mzlfzoV6g
- Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) September 4, 2020
"The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch," Trump tweeted. "It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!"
Trump is under fire himself this week, for outrageously disrespectful comments about and toward members of the U.S. military, including wounded and deceased soldiers.
The president was recently reported to have previously called fallen U.S. service members "losers."
From Reuters:
The independent military newspaper had been expected to stop publishing at the end of September after the Pentagon announced in February that it would be cutting its funding.
Trump's tweet comes a day after the Atlantic reported that he had referred to Marines buried in an American cemetery near Paris as "losers" and declined to visit in 2018 because of concern the rain that day would mess up his hair.
Trump, who has touted his record helping U.S. veterans, has strongly denied the report.
Earlier this week, more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper urging him to reconsider closing the newspaper, which provides print and online news to U.S. troops around the world.
Esper, who has clashed with Trump on a number of issues, had defended the decision to defund the newspaper earlier this year.
More at Reuters: After criticism, Trump says Pentagon will not shut down military newspaper
Good news for @starsandstripes today - after months of sitting on pins and needles.
- Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) September 4, 2020
Reminder: The full cut to federal funding for Stripes was proposed in the president's budget. https://t.co/OKYakE5kKu
President Trump said late Friday that he planned to reverse Pentagon budget cuts that would have permanently closed Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper that has both informed and spoken for American troops over the decades https://t.co/cuL6onVniY
- NYT At War (@NYTimesAtWar) September 4, 2020