Rupert Murdoch’s American newspapers turned on Donald Trump after the President “crossed a red line” by falsely accusing Ukraine of starting the war with Russia, insiders said.
The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal published editorials rebuking Trump for mouthing the Kremlin’s talking points and his willingness to “sell out Ukraine”.
While The Times and The Sun also broke with Trump, the language was noticeably strong in the American Murdoch-owned News Corp titles.
The New York Post, which is edited by British former Sun deputy editor Keith Poole, told Trump his demand that “Ukraine sign over a huge chunk of its economy as repayment for help fending off Russia is flat-out wrong. Period”.
In its leader column titled, “Trump is asking for FAR too much ‘payback’ from war-torn Ukraine”, the Post said it would be “despicable” to “squeeze war-crippled Ukraine for all we can”.
“Turning the truth completely upside down ought to be beneath him,” it said of the President’s accusation that Volodymyr Zelensky provoked the conflict.
Sister paper The Wall Street Journal said Trump had been “played” by the Kremlin, an accusation designed to hurt a President who boasts of his superior deal-making skills.
In the UK, The Sun‘s leader column said Trump’s “smearing of the Ukraine regime as scam artists who provoked a war using US taxpayers’ money is a rant beneath the dignity of his office. Almost nothing in it is true”.
Presidents have a “duty to discern right from wrong with absolute moral clarity”, it added.
The Times called Trump’s remarks “appalling and it must be hoped they will be retracted”.
The papers took aim at Trump just weeks after he had invited the 93-year-old Murdoch into the Oval Office, where he praised the billionaire’s business acumen while signing executive orders.
An insider said: “These attacks must have been signed off at the very top at News Corp. Rupert and Trump have always had a bumpy relationship.
“The Post has flipped on Trump many times. But when Trump took Putin’s side over Ukraine it crossed a red line. It’s personal for Rupert, he believes in the cause.”
Murdoch strongly advocated military support for Ukraine and considered it essential to challenge Russian aggression, the insider said.
Rupert and eldest son Lachlan, who now runs the Fox and News Corp businesses, had been affected by the serious injuries sustained by a Fox News reporter, Benjamin Hall, who was covering the conflict when his vehicle was hit by incoming Russian fire, the insider said. A photojournalist and a Ukrainian fixer were killed in the incident.
“Rupert spoke to President Zelensky and Lachlan visited Zelensky in Kyiv with Hall after he was made boss,” the insider said. “That was seen as a signal that the Murdoch outlets would continue to give full support to the Ukraine resistance.”
Murdoch would regularly call Trump during his first term in the White House and his presence in the Oval Office suggested the President was respectful of the media mogul’s continuing influence.
Relations have been repaired since Murdoch threatened to make Trump a “non-person” and claimed the former reality TV star was going “increasingly mad” over his refusal to accept defeat at the 2020 presidential election, documents showed.
Trump poached Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth to be his new Defence Secretary.
But the Murdoch papers have laid into Trump whenever the President utters policies which conflict with Rupert’s free market beliefs.
The Journal called Trump’s threat to impose tariffs “the Dumbest Trade War in History”. Trump told Murdoch his paper was wrong but said they often disagreed.
Another Murdoch observer, who previously worked for News Corp, said Trump would shrug off the latest attacks.
“He doesn’t care what the papers say,” the figure said. “Trump is only bothered about Fox News, that’s his direct channel to his supporters. And Fox News makes a lot of money for Murdoch. It’s unlikely to turn against Trump. So they both have a mutual interest whatever else they disagree about.”
Representatives of Murdoch and News Corp were contacted for comment.
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