President Donald Trump on Sunday slammed The New York Times after James Bennet resigned as editor of the paper's editorial page following the publication of an opinion piece by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., that called on Trump to "send in troops" in order to quell violent protests over the death of George Floyd.
"Opinion Editor at @nytimes just walked out. That's right, he quit over the excellent Op-Ed penned by our great Senator @TomCottonAR," the president tweeted. "TRANSPARENCY! The State of Arkansas is very proud of Tom. The New York Times is Fake News!!!"
Cotton also ripped the Times, calling the newsroom a "woke child mob" and one that "apparently gets triggered when they're presented with an opinion contrary to their own."
The Times apologized for a rushed editorial process in permitting Cotton's piece, titled "Send in the Troops."
Bennet green-lit publishing the story.
The paper announced his resignation Sunday.
"Last week we saw a significant breakdown in our editing processes, not the first we've experienced in recent years," said A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher, in a note to staff. "James and I agreed that it would take a new team to lead the department through a period of considerable change."
Bennet said he did not personally read the story before it was published, although he defended his choice for running it.
"We published Cotton's argument in part because we've committed to Times readers to provide a debate on important questions like this," he said in the June 4 statement.
Some Times employees organized a protest on social media and said runningCotton's story put black staff in danger.