In a series of Twitter posts on Wednesday, Mr. Trump wrote: “The Press has never been more dishonest than it is today. Stories are written that have absolutely no basis in fact. The writers don’t even call asking for verification. They are totally out of control.” He went on to write, “The New York Times reporting is false.”

Although the president did not cite a specific article, The Times published an investigative report on Tuesday describing how Mr. Trump had worked to influence and undermine federal investigations involving him, his presidential campaign and his administration. The Times on Wednesday defended the article as “rigorously reported,” based on a review of confidential White House documents and dozens of interviews.

Mr. Trump’s use of the phrase “enemy of the people” — which he has frequently deployed against a group of mainstream news outlets, but rarely against The Times individually — also carried unusual weight because of a series of recent conversations between himself and A. G. Sulzberger, The Times’s publisher.

On two occasions, including an Oval Office interview last month, Mr. Sulzberger has urged Mr. Trump in person to abandon his use of that term. The publisher has cited growing evidence that autocrats and other world leaders are emboldened by Mr. Trump’s anti-press statements to crack down, sometimes violently, on independent journalists in their own countries.

In the interview, Mr. Trump responded by saying “I want to be” a defender of the press. But he went on to complain at length about what he perceives as unfairly critical coverage of him and his administration.