‘A Fake News Joke’: Trump hits back at New York Times report he did not grasp ‘basic elements’ of healthcare bill

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Senate Republicans about healthcare in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., June 27, 2017. With Trump are Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT).REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

President Donald Trump appeared to take issue Wednesday morning with a New York Times report on his involvement in the Senate healthcare bill.

“Some of the Fake News Media likes to say that I am not totally engaged in healthcare. Wrong, I know the subject well & want victory for U.S.,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.

The New York Times reported that Trump was “largely on the sidelines” during much of the debate surrounding the bill. One GOP Senator who supports the bill and met with Trump on Tuesday told the paper that the president “did not have a grasp of some basic elements of the Senate plan.”

Trump targeted the paper specifically in a tweet earlier Wednesday.

“The failing @nytimes writes false story after false story about me. They don’t even call to verify the facts of a story. A Fake News Joke!,” Trump tweeted.

Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday shelved a plan to vote on their healthcare legislation by the end of the week after resistance from several members of the Senate GOP conference. They plan to revise the bill and work toward passage after the July 4 recess.