Donald Trump repeats false claim New York Times 'apologised' for US election coverage

This is the fifth time Mr Trump has taken to Twitter to complain about the news outlet

Donald Trump routinely complained about media coverage of him while on the campaign trail in 2016 and he is continuing now that he is in office. (Getty Images )

Donald Trump has once again picked a fight with the New York Times, saying their coverage of him is “now worse” then it has ever been and repeating a false claim that the newspaper apologised to readers about their 2016 election coverage.

There was never an apology issued by the paper, as Mr Trump suggested in his tweet. Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and executive editor Dean Baquet did however write a letter to readers after the election in November promising to “rededicate” its resources to responsible, unbiased news reporting.

The current leading story on the site is about staff in-fighting in the White House and how Vice President Mike Pence has “emerged as an effective, if not ultimately successful, wingman for a president short on competent help.”

Early in the morning, Mr Trump took to Twitter - his preferred venue for complaining about the media:

The Deputy Managing Editor for the New York Times ​tweeted in response to the President again saying that the newspaper did not apologise to its readers.

The newspaper has regularly been on the receiving end of Mr Trump’s ire. He often refers to them as “failing” and biased against him, but also used their headlines to justify his accusations on Twitter that former President Obama had Trump Tower wiretapped during the 2016 presidential election.

The New York Times has said the paper’s subscriptions have doubled since Mr Trump got elected and they also received an anonymous donation of $1 million, which the paper is using to provide free subscriptions for school students.