With President Joe Biden receiving poor job performance numbers and the midterms approaching, the White House team has amped up attacks on media reports with which it disagrees.
After Politico reporter Adam Cancryn took to Twitter to share the outlet's "West Wing Playbook" newsletter on Thursday, White House deputy communications director Kate Berner responded with a derisive tweet.
"A historic confirmation – Judge [Ketanji Brown] Jackson is Justice Jackson. Historic low for unemployment claims. Historic international effort to provide relief on Putin's price hike. Can't find coverage of any of it in a newsletter that purports to report on the WH," Berner tweeted with a puzzled emoji.
White House deputy press secretary Chris Meagher joined in the assault on Politico.
"Berner you probably just didn't read far enough down in their 'news' letter. Their passing glance at KBJ's historic confirmation shows up about 1,110 words," Meagher tweeted.
Politico reporters, however, responded by pointing out how misguided the White House's criticism had been.
Politico White House reporter Max Tani tweeted, "Must be talking about another newsletter!“ and included a screenshot of the "Playbook," leading with a few paragraphs discussing Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation and calling the vote a "major victory for Biden."
Politico's Alex Thompson, co-author of the newsletter, tweeted a reply to Berner – "With respect, that's not true" – and a screenshot of the newsletter showing positive reporting on the administration.
A new Rasmussen Reports poll Thursday found that 52% of voters think Biden's presidency has been "bad" for America.
Biden's approval rating in recent polls has been well below 50% amid escalating inflation and gas prices, a migrant crisis at the southern border expected to get worse when Title 42 ends, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked attack on Ukraine that might have been aided by perceived Biden weakness.
It was reported in December that White House officials blamed the press for some of its woes. Chief of staff Ronald Klain, deputy press secretary Andrew Bates and senior associate communications director Matt Hill shared and endorsed a column by Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, who wrote that the mainstream media was treating Biden worse than it treated former President Trump.