President Trump on Wednesday blasted a new report in The New York Times that contends members of his 2016 campaign staff maintained contact with senior Russian intelligence officials leading up to the election. Following a formal denial from the Kremlin, Trump shot off a tweetstorm attacking the “fake news media” and its “blind hatred” of his office. He even called the Times report a “conspiracy theory.” The controversy followed a full day of media firestorm surrounding Trump’s former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn, who was let go over pre-inauguration contact with the Russian ambassador. “This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton’s losing campaign,” Trump tweeted. “Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?). Just like Russia.”