President Trump called the news media the “opposition party” on Thursday, the same day hundreds of newspapers across the country published editorials defending the freedom of the press in the United States.

“THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA IS THE OPPOSITION PARTY. It is very bad for our Great Country….BUT WE ARE WINNING!,” the president posted on his Twitter account.

More than 300 newspapers – in major metropolitan areas and small towns and in red states and blue – wrote editorials denouncing Trump’s attacking the news media as “the enemy of the people.”

About an hour later, Trump returned to Twitter to say he supports a free press but not “FAKE NEWS.”

“There is nothing that I would want more for our Country than true FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. The fact is that the Press is FREE to write and say anything it wants, but much of what it says is FAKE NEWS, pushing a political agenda or just plain trying to hurt people. HONESTY WINS!,” he wrote.

The project initiated by the Boston Globe encouraged newspapers across the country to stand up for press freedom after Trump called journalists “horrible, horrendous people” at recent rallies, leading his supporters to shout obscenities at them and flash obscene gestures.

“This relentless assault on the free press has dangerous consequences,” the Boston Globe wrote. “We asked editorial boards from around the country – liberal and conservative, large and small – to join us today to address this fundamental threat in their own words.”

In another tweet, Trump trashed the Boston Globe for its “COLLUSION” with other news outlets and denounced familiar foe the New York Times for taking a bath when it sold the Globe.

“The Boston Globe, which was sold to the the Failing New York Times for 1.3 BILLION DOLLARS (plus 800 million dollars in losses & investment), or 2.1 BILLION DOLLARS, was then sold by the Times for 1 DOLLAR. Now the Globe is in COLLUSION with other papers on free press. PROVE IT!,” he said.

But media reports at the time show the Times sold the Boston Globe in 2013 for $70 million, a significant drop in the $1.1 billion it paid to purchase the newspaper 20 years earlier.