Trump campaign plasters The Washington Post with ads linking to claims debunked by paper’s fact checkers

Digital ad blitz comes as Joe Biden accepts Democratic presidential nomination

The Trump campaign has plastered The Washington Post 's website with a series of huge adverts, including full-screen video promotions, sparking criticism of the influential newspaper.

The ad campaign was launched amid the Democratic National Convention (DNC), which culminated on Thursday evening in Joe Biden formally accepting his party’s presidential nomination.

In anticipation of the DNC, President Donald Trump’s campaign reportedly threw approximately $10 million into ad buys, which include homepage takeovers of the Wall Street Journal and Daily Caller, as well as The Washington Post.

The Trump campaign’s communications director ,Tim Murtaugh, said last week the digital ad buy also took over the YouTube masthead for 96 hours, from Tuesday through to Friday, according to Axios.

He said: “The total of the online buy is high seven figures. Some of the ads are performance-based, so the total could push to over $10 million.

“More people will see our digital content than will watch Joe Biden’s convention itself.”

But a number of journalists have raised concerns over the glaring ads on The Washington Post’s homepage, especially because the paper has been a leading voice in holding the president to account.

Some called the ad takeovers “shocking” while others said they would consider cancelling their subscription to the newspaper.

Mr Trump is a vocal critic of The Washington Post and frequently calls it "corrupt" and "dishonest" in his tirades against media publications he views as unfavourable to him.

The ads also link to claims that have been debunked by The Washington Post’s own fact checkers.

One of the ads is a video titled “Abolished”, which claims Mr Biden is attempting to defund police departments.

In July, The Washington Post debunked the claim as false, citing a CBS interview in which Mr Biden said: “No, I don’t support defunding the police.”

The Independent has contacted The Washington Post for comment.