AKIPRESS.COM - On Saturday evening, U.S. President Donald Trump accused the New York Times of treason in response to a story the newspaper claimed his administration approved, U.S. media report.

Trump responded to a New York Times story that detailed his administration stepping up attacks on Russia’s power grid in response to Russian-directed U.S. election interference. The President called the story “a virtual act of treason” before accusing the paper of writing without regard to the consequences of the reporting, calling them “true cowards” and repeating his line that the Times is “the enemy of the people.”

The New York Times called it "dangerous" for Trump to accuse the paper of a “virtual act of treason”.

The story, citing current and former government officials, revealed the previously unreported deployment of American computer code into Russia’s electrical power grid and "other targets" to serve as a warning and deterrent to the Kremlin's cyber-operations. 

The New York Times' official public relations account replied to Trump's tweet Saturday night and called the accusation "dangerous" and noted that the paper reached out to the administration for comment on the story and Trump's own officials said they had “no concerns” about the story, which the story noted was “perhaps an indication that some of the intrusions were intended to be noticed by the Russians.”