“I just love to sit in my office and make up ways so they’ll write these stupid stories because they are just so stupid, it’s awful,” Maine Gov. Paul LePage told WGAN-AM. | AP Photo Maine's LePage suggests he makes up stories to mislead press

Maine Gov. Paul LePage suggested on Thursday he makes up stories with the intent to mislead the media.

“I just love to sit in my office and make up ways so they’ll write these stupid stories because they are just so stupid, it’s awful,” LePage told WGAN-AM.


The Republican governor was speaking about the state government's recent three-day shutdown, when he criticized the news media for reporting that he planned to leave the state to go to Florida during that time. The news stories in question were based on LePage’s comments to two Republican senators, The Associated Press reported. But his office described the report as “fake news.”

"Shame on them. ... They're so bad," LePage told the radio station.

LePage went on to call the media in his state "vile" and "inaccurate."

“The sooner the print press goes away, the better society will be," LePage said, before noting that his office has taken to using Facebook Live to get around reporters.

"We ignore them and they get even angrier," he said.