At 3:20 a.m. Friday, Donald Trump posted a tweet denouncing the media for citing anonymous sources while reporting about him.
Anytime you see a story about me or my campaign saying "sources said," DO NOT believe it. There are no sources, they are just made up lies!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
A number of hours later, he followed that up with another smear:
Remember, don't believe "sources said" by the VERY dishonest media. If they don't name the sources, the sources don't exist.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
Trump, however, has repeatedly cited anonymous sources over the years while “reporting” things on Twitter.
Consider this tweet, which will go down in history as one of his most memorable:
An 'extremely credible source' has called my office and told me that @BarackObama's birth certificate is a fraud.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2012
Though the notion that Obama’s birth certificate is fraudulent had already been debunked by the time Trump posted that tweet, Trump continued to push the “birther” conspiracy theory for years. He finally acknowledged Obama is a U.S. citizen on September 16. Clearly in that situation Trump’s “extremely credible source” led him astray.
Trump’s birther tweet wasn’t the only time he used anonymous sources to smear Obama:
An 'extremely credible source' has called my office & told me that @BarackObama applied to Occidental as a foreign student–think about it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2012
A 'confidential source' has called my office and told me that @BarackObama has added over $6T to the new national debt & ruined US credit.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2012
An 'extremely credible source' has called my office and told me that @BarackObama bought his house with the help of Tony Rezko.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2012
Trump has also used an anonymous source to attack New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is currently investigating the Trump Foundation for fraud:
Sources inside @AGSchneiderman’s office are saying that they are very concerned with the allegations against their lightweight boss.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2013
More recently, Trump cited “sources” while denouncing Hillary Clinton and the allegedly rigged system working on her behalf:
It was just announced-by sources-that no charges will be brought against Crooked Hillary Clinton. Like I said, the system is totally rigged!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2016
And when he’s not citing anonymous sources, Trump is notoriously fond of using the “many people say” formulation to substantiate his claims.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/762810827896487936
Despite Trump’s attack on the media, CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter shared a couple examples of Trump aides actually asking to pass along information anonymously:
Here's an example of a Trump aide asking to go "off the record" to share info. pic.twitter.com/ZijYRR8aAM
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 30, 2016
This is a Trump aide asking to be described as a "source." cc: @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/zF4q1Cvdzg
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 30, 2016
A Bloomberg report published hours after Trump’s Friday morning tweets illustrates why Trump wants to discredit anonymous sources. Citing “Florida campaign workers who requested anonymity out of fear of getting fired for speaking publicly,” Bloomberg reports that “the lack of basic campaign staples such as yard signs and bumper stickers forces staff to repeatedly turn away excited Trump backers who want to show their support.”
Earlier this week, another anonymous source told NBC that Trump is considering a major campaign shakeup because his current brain trust is hurting the Trump Organization’s bottom line:
source close to Trump tells @KatyTurNBC candidate's children unhappy w/Bannon/Conway/Bossie leadership, think campaign is hurting business
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) September 28, 2016
Is the media making all of this information up? It seems unlikely. More probable is that Trump’s “there are no sources” claim is just another fib illustrating his fast and loose relationship with the truth.
It’s information that portrays him in an unflattering light, rather than anonymous sources themselves, that Trump wants to discredit.