Administration Dropping Post , Times Subscriptions

A Democrat quoted by The New York Times cites "payback" and 'karmic justice'.

The White House is preparing to instruct federal agencies not to renew their subscriptions to the newspapers.

The White House is directing federal agencies to cancel their subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post, two flagship newspapers that consistently break news about and relevant to the president's administration.

A rep for the Times declined comment.

The decision would be a "significant cost saving" measure to save taxpayers "hundreds of thousands of dollars", White House press secretray Stephanie Grisham said Thursday in a statement obtained by ABC News.

The timing of the cancellations directives is still under White House discussion, an administration official told the Journal.

"We don't even want it in the White House any more". "They say he got the worst press of anybody".

Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel on Monday the White House would likely cut its subscriptions to the two newspapers. The Washington Post offers free digital access to federal employees with a valid government email address. The next day, Grisham said, "We have no plans to renew them".

Trump's campaign, meanwhile, has subscribed to The Times, Journal and Washington Post, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission through September 30. The campaign had no immediate comment.

In a pair of tweets in August, Trump laid out a sweeping indictment of the Times and its state in journalism.

The president has decried the Times as "the enemy of the people" and the Post as a lobbying arm of Amazon in reference to its owner, Jeff Bezos.