Update: The president-elect will meet with the Times after all. According to a statement from the newspaper, Donald Trump will meet with the publisher off-the-record and later with journalists for an on-the-record discussion.
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President-elect Donald Trump cancelled a meeting with the New York Times Tuesday, alleging the newspaper changed the “terms and conditions” of the meeting at the last moment.
In a series of tweets, Trump called the Times “not nice,” stating, “perhaps a new meeting will be set up with @nytimes. In the meantime they continue to cover me inaccurately and with a nasty tone!”
READ MORE: Trump’s threat to pull plug on TPP allows China to take leadership on trade
Trump then went on to tweet he would move ahead with meetings to form the team of people who will run the U.S. government for the “next 8 years,” leading many Twitter users to mock him for the assumption he would be elected to a second term before he was sworn in for his first.
However, the Times has denied the president-elect’s claims, a spokesperson noting that the newspaper was not even aware the meeting was cancelled until they saw Trump’s tweets.
“We were unaware that the meeting was canceled until we saw the president-elect’s tweet this morning. We did not change the ground rules at all and made no attempt to,” said the Times’ senior vice-president for communications, Eileen M. Murphy.
“They tried to yesterday — asking for only a private meeting and no on-the-record segment, which we refused to agree to. In the end, we concluded with them that we would go back to the original plan of a small off-the-record session and a larger on-the-record session with reporters and columnists.”
WATCH: Trump shares update on transition, policy plan for first 100 days in office
The president-elect outlined plans for his first day in office Monday, including formally declaring his intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, trade deal, which he called “a potential disaster for our country.” Trump, who has not held a news conference since his election, made his address via YouTube.
“My agenda will be based on a simple core principle: putting America first. Whether it’s producing steel, building cars or curing disease, I want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here on our great homeland, America, creating wealth and jobs for American workers,” he said in the video.
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