--- title: Trump: NYT Report 'Treason' Despite Government Sign Off description: The President bashed a New York Times article on US cyber operations against Russia. The article was cleared by his own administration canonical: https://time.com/5607955/trump-new-york-times-russia-treason/ author: Alejandro de la Garza article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-06-16T15:49:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:45:39.074Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Accuses the New York 'Times' of a 'Virtual Act of Treason' for an article His Own Administration Reportedly Cleared og:description: The paper said administration officials had "no national security concerns" og:url: https://time.com/5607955/trump-new-york-times-russia-treason/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6798dd7d7f02ed82/69894b4a929fadeb78bf35a5/trump-russia-cyber-times.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President Donald Trump Delivers Remarks In The Rose Garden On Expanding Health Coverage Options For Small Businesses og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Accuses the New York 'Times' of a 'Virtual Act of Treason' for an article His Own Administration Reportedly Cleared twitter:description: The paper said administration officials had "no national security concerns" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6798dd7d7f02ed82/69894b4a929fadeb78bf35a5/trump-russia-cyber-times.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Accuses the New York 'Times' of a 'Virtual Act of Treason' for an Article His Own Administration Reportedly Cleared > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Jun 16, 2019 3:49 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House on June 14, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House on June 14, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Jun 16, 2019 3:49 PM UTC On Saturday evening, President Donald Trump accused the New York _Times_ of treason in response to a story the newspaper claimed his administration approved. Trump responded to a [New York _Times_ story](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/us/politics/trump-cyber-russia-grid.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage) that detailed his administration stepping up attacks on Russia’s power grid in response to Russian-directed U.S. election interference. The President called the story “a virtual act of treason” before accusing the paper of writing without regard to the consequences of the reporting, calling them “true cowards” and repeating his line that the _Times_ is “the enemy of the people.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1140065300186128384) Soon after Trump’s accusations, the _Times_ [responded on Twitter](https://twitter.com/NYTimesPR/status/1140091848255578112?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) and claimed that the paper had described the content of the article to administration officials before the story’s publication. According to the article, officials at Trump’s National Security Council declined to comment on the reporting, but said that “they had no national security concerns about the details of The New York _Times_’ reporting.” > [](https://twitter.com/NYTimesPR/status/1140091848255578112) Additionally the article details the possibility that Trump has not been briefed on some of the cyber-maneuvers his administration is taking against Russia. “Pentagon and intelligence officials described broad hesitation to go into detail with Mr. Trump about operations against Russia for concern over his reaction — and the possibility that he might countermand it or discuss it with foreign officials,” the article reports. Officials at the U.S. Cyber Command have looked into the possibility that Russia could attack grids in key states in order to [disrupt the 2020 election](https://time.com/5422261/election-hacking/), according to the New York _Times_. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5607955/trump-new-york-times-russia-treason/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5607955/trump-new-york-times-russia-treason/"},"headline":"President Trump Accuses the New York 'Times' of a 'Virtual Act of Treason' for an Article His Own Administration Reportedly Cleared","datePublished":"2019-06-16T15:49:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:45:39.074Z","description":"The paper said administration officials had \"no national security concerns\"","url":"https://time.com/5607955/trump-new-york-times-russia-treason/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6798dd7d7f02ed82/69894b4a929fadeb78bf35a5/trump-russia-cyber-times.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alejandro de la Garza","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6798dd7d7f02ed82/69894b4a929fadeb78bf35a5/trump-russia-cyber-times.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Donald Trump Delivers Remarks In The Rose Garden On Expanding Health Coverage Options For Small Businesses","caption":"President Donald Trump Delivers Remarks In The Rose Garden On Expanding Health Coverage Options For Small Businesses","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5607955/trump-new-york-times-russia-treason/","name":"President Trump Accuses the New York 'Times' of a 'Virtual Act of Treason' for an Article His Own Administration Reportedly Cleared"}}]}] ```