Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, said Sunday that The New York Times is “destroying itself” with its hatred of President Trump, referring to its reported pivot from Russia to racism.

“The NYT is destroying itself w/Trump hatred,” Mr. Cruz tweeted. “It’s ultimately bad for freedom of the press when ‘journalists’ openly revel in being partisan propagandists.”

At an Aug. 12 staff meeting, executive editor Dean Baquet said the newspaper had decided to tackle the race issue in the same way “we built our newsroom” to cover alleged Russia collusion with the Trump campaign, according to a recording leaked to Slate, which published a transcript.

Mr. Cruz called the newspaper’s reported plan to shift its focus to Mr. Trump’s alleged racism “deeply cynical.”

“It’s also deeply cynical — at a time when racial tensions are raw, for the NYT to be deliberately stoking the fires of racial tension & hatred,” Mr. Cruz tweeted.

The newsroom “town hall” came after the newspaper reworked between editions an Aug. 6 headline under pressure from the left from “Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism” to “Assailing Hate But Not Guns.”

“Ironically, their approach is the obverse of their original headline (before they succumbed to the mob): ‘NYT Urges Racism Vs Unity,’” Mr. Cruz wrote.

The Washington Times has reached out to the New York Times for comment on the town hall, which the Daily Beast also described in a story.

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