Washington sources reported that US President Donald Trump on Saturday accused The New York Times of "a virtual act of treason," after it reported the US is stepping up digital incursions into russia's electric power grid. As per report current and former government officials have described the classified deployment of American computer code inside russia's power grid and other targets.
Furthermore the action is intended partly as a warning but also to leave the US poised to conduct cyber strikes in the event of a major conflict between the US and russia. Reportedly Trump tweeted that the accusations were "NOT TRUE," calling the media "corrupt" and repeating accusations that journalists are "the enemy of the people." He wrote "Do you believe that the Failing New York Times just did a story stating that the united states is substantially increasing Cyber Attacks on russia”.
Moreover the Times report came after an investigation by US special counsel, Robert Mueller of alleged hacking by russia's GRU intelligence agency and social media manipulation by russia's Internet Research Agency to benefit Trump's election campaign. He said in a statement "America's founders believed that a free press was essential to democracy because it is the foundation of an informed, engaged citizenry”.
