Senator slams Trump for Stalin-like attacks on media

WASHINGTON: A maverick senator from Donald Trump’s own Republican party launched a stinging attack on the president, accusing him of employing Stalinist language to attack and undermine the free press. Arizona lawmaker Jeff Flake levelled the broadside in an address from the Senate floor, timed to coincide with the expected announcement of controversial “Fake News Awards” by Trump’s administration. Flake — an outspoken critic of the president — hit out at what he called Trump’s disregard for the truth, and his repeated designation of the news media as an “enemy.”