Trump defends his son, accuses media of 'distorting democracy'

WASHINGTON - 16 July 2017: US President Donald Trump on Sunday accused the news media of distorting democracy in a series of angry statements issued early Sunday, the Washington Post reported.

The US president defended his son , contrasting his Russia meeting with Hillary Clinton's deleted emails.

Trump lashed out at the media for coverage of the disclosure that his oldest son Donald Trump Jr. held a meeting last year with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer who offered damaging information about Hillary Clinton, his campaign opponent.

"Hillary Clinton can illegally get the questions to the Debate and delete 33,000 emails but my son Don is being scorned by the Fake News Media?", Trump tweeted.

Trump was referring to emails Clinton deleted from her private server as secretary of state, as well as to her campaign being provided an early look at a question in a primary debate against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The debate controversy surfaced only because of an illegal hack of Democratic emails, which US intelligence agencies have concluded was orchestrated by Russia, and their subsequent release on WikiLeaks.

"With all of its phony unnamed sources, highly slanted and even fraudulent reporting, fake news is distorting democracy in our country," he added.