Trump tweets Lauer firing, suspect Muslim violence videos

But wait, there’s more: Trump also retweeted video of purported Muslim violence posted by a leader of the U.K. anti-Islamic group Britain First.

Trump’s day dawned with tweets about high consumer confidence numbers and the retweets of anti-Muslim videos.

British broadcaster Piers Morgan, who has been supportive of Trump, went on Twitter to scold the president. “Good morning, Mr. President @realDonaldTrump – what the hell are you doing retweeting a bunch of unverified videos by Britain First, a bunch of disgustingly racist far-right extremists? Please STOP this madness & undo your retweets.”

Asked about the videos, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders declined to say if they had been verified.

“Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real,” she said. The president, she added, wanted to highlight “the need for national security, the need for military spending.”

Trump’s tweets took on a celebratory tone when NBC announced shortly after 7 a.m. that it had fired Lauer.

“Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for ‘inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.’ But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack’s past!” Trump wrote.

Lack is the NBC News chairman who wrote the statement announcing Lauer’s departure.

In a different post, Trump suggested that NBC fire another executive and Joe Scarborough, co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” He also alluded to an “’unsolved mystery’ that took place in Florida years ago,” an apparent reference to the death of a 28-year-old aide to Scarborough when the talk-show host was a congressman in Florida.

Politifact rated Trump’s suggestion “pants on fire false.” The fact-finding organization reported that a medical examiner found that the aide “lost consciousness because of an abnormal heart rhythm and fell, hitting her head on a desk. The head injury caused the death.”

Politifact concluded, “The guts of the attack are nothing more than an unproven conspiracy theory — no different than President Barack Obama being born outside the United States or Ted Cruz’s father being involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.”

During the 2016 GOP presidential campaign, Trump accused the father of rival Ted Cruz, a GOP senator from Texas, of associating with Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald — an allegation the Cruz campaign dismissed as garbage.

Trump also challenged former President Barack Obama to release his birth certificate to prove he was born in the United States. (He was.)

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Trump recently has taken to questioning the authenticity of Obama’s Hawaiian birth certificate — as part of a “lifelong habit of attempting to create and sell his own version of reality.”

The Times story also alleged that Trump has come to question the “Access Hollywood” tape in which he bragged about grabbing women’s crotches. During the 2016 campaign, Trump admitted the tape was authentic, but now he has doubts.

Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters the Times story had “a number of inaccuracies,” but he would not specify them.

Trump’s long-simmering feud with the media has escalated in the past week. On Monday, Trump suggested on Twitter that a contest be held to see which network – “plus CNN and not including Fox” — should win “the FAKE NEWS TROPHY.”

Trump also criticized CNN International’s coverage. The cable news network’s foreign correspondents responded that they feared Trump’s rhetoric put them in danger.

CNN also decided to boycott the White House media Christmas party on Friday.

“In light of the president’s continued attacks on freedom of the press and CNN, we do not feel it is appropriate to celebrate with him as his invited guest,” a CNN spokesperson told Politico.

Sanders responded to the report on Twitter, “Christmas comes early! Finally, good news from @CNN.”

Trump’s tweet storm eclipsed his scheduled trip to Missouri, which was designed to help the president sell the GOP tax-cut plan. During a gaggle on Air Force One, reporters peppered Shah with questions about the tweets.

Shah responded, “Look, we are not going to be focusing on process. I know you guys want to. We are going to be focusing on the issues.”

But the controversy would not go away, as key allies voiced their disapproval. British Prime Minister Teresa May was traveling, but a spokesman issued a statement that said, “Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours. Spreading hatred has consequences & the President should be ashamed of himself.”

The Dutch embassy tweeted, “@realDonaldTrump, Facts do matter. The perpetrator of the violent act in this video was born and raised in the Netherlands.”

As he spoke in St. Louis, Trump lashed out at the news media, when he said, “Look at all the fake news back there.”

Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or at 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.