After Donald Trump seized on coverage of a new book by a former editor of the New York Times to argue that the newspaper is biased against him, the editor herself said her words had been taken “totally out of context”.

Tweeting from the White House on a Saturday otherwise consumed by the government shutdown, Trump shared a version of Washington Times and Fox News headlines about Jill Abramson’s forthcoming book, Merchants of Truth, which suggested Abramson believes the Times is biased against the president.

“Ms Abramson is 100% correct,” he wrote, before seeking to justify his controversial attacks on the newspaper and other media outlets. “Horrible and totally dishonest reporting on almost everything they write. Hence the term[s] Fake News, Enemy of the People, and Opposition Party!”

Abramson was the first woman to be executive editor of the Times, filling the role from 2011 to 2014. She is now a columnist for the Guardian.

In an email to the Guardian on Saturday, she wrote: “Donald Trump is echoing a piece on Fox News (surprise) that distorts and takes what I wrote totally out of context.

“Both the NYT and [Washington Post] have had superb coverage of the corruption enveloping the Trump administration, the best investigative reporting I’ve seen. My book is full of praise for both papers.”

Merchants of Truth, which will be released on 5 February, recounts how four news organizations – the Times, the Post, BuzzFeed and Vice – negotiated the rocky transition to the age of online news.

In a tweet addressed to Trump on Saturday, Abramson wrote: “Anyone who reads my book … will find I revere [the Times] and praise its tough coverage of you.”

The book includes Abramson’s story of her time as Times editor, including her firing amid dramatic public fallout.

Abramson left following conflict with Dean Baquet, a deputy who replaced her as executive editor. In her book, discussion of Baquet’s choices in steering the paper includes the words: “His news pages were unmistakably anti-Trump.”

In an emailed statement, a Times spokeswoman said: “Every political administration complains about the scrutiny and coverage it receives from the free press. But our job is to seek the truth and hold power to account, regardless of who occupies the Oval Office.

“That is what we have done during the Trump administration, just as we did in the Obama, Bush and Clinton administrations. We take pride in our long history of journalistic independence and commitment to covering the news without fear or favor.”

