President Trump used his first speech to military service members Monday to accuse the news media of refusing to report on terrorist attacks.

Speaking at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., Trump rattled off a series of strikes carried out by “radical Islamic terrorists,” including Sept. 11 and the more recent violence in Orlando, Fla.; San Bernardino, Calif.; Paris; and Nice, France.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported,” he told a group of senior commanders. “And in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it.”

The president implied that media organizations have an ulterior motive to bury coverage of such attacks.

“They have their reasons, and you understand that,” he said.

Trump initially provided no evidence to back up his comments. Many found them baffling since terror attacks both at home and abroad often spark blanket coverage on cable news networks, in newspapers and among online outlets.

Two of the earliest American victims of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria were James Foley and Steven Sotloff, journalists who were covering the war in Syria.

Hours later, the White House circulated a list of 78 attacks carried out between September 2014 and December 2016, most of which it said “have not received the media attention they deserved.”

The list includes major attacks Trump cited in his speech that dominated news coverage for weeks.

It also included many strikes overseas that received limited media attention in the U.S., including killings in Dhaka, Bangladesh; Parramatta, Australia; and Zvornik, Bosnia.

Trump continues a feud with the news media that stretches back to the very beginning of his presidential campaign.

The comments resemble recent claims by Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that the media refused to cover the nonexistent “Bowling Green massacre.” After coming under criticism, Conway has since said that she “misspoke.”

Separate reports on Monday indicated that Conway on at least two earlier occasions had talked of a violent incident in Bowling Green, Ky. No attack happened, but two Iraqi citizens were arrested in 2011 for attempting to send arms and money to terrorists in Iraq.

The president earlier on Monday bashed The New York Times over its report on chaos and confusion within the White House.

Trump also criticized news organizations for publishing opinion polls showing him with historically low approval ratings and for running stories highlighting the power amassed by his senior counselor, Stephen Bannon.

“I call my own shots, largely based on an accumulation of data, and everyone knows it. Some FAKE NEWS media, in order to marginalize, lies!” he tweeted.