Donald Trump continues attack on media in ominous survey emailed to supporters

One question asks whether the Republican Party should 'spend more time and resources holding the mainstream media accountable?'

Donald Trump attacked the press during his campaign and in office (Mario Tama/Getty )

Donald Trump followed up his attack on the media at news conference with an email to supporters which continued the assault.

Released via the Republican Party website, the "Mainstream Media Accountability Survey" asked a series of questions focusing on the alleged shortcomings of the press, naming some media outlets.

The 25 questions also tried to garner support for President Trump’s communications methods.

Mr Trump wrote that the “American people” were the “last line of defence against the media’s hit jobs”.

He said he would be subject to “some of the nastiest attacks you can imagine” and asked people to fill in the survey, which can be viewed in full here.

The first questions asked if respondents believed if the media had “reported unfairly on our movement”.

The survey then listed a series of broadcasters – MSNBC, CNN and Fox News – and asked if they trusted them to “report fairly” on the Trump presidency.

Later, the questions expanded to cover specific points of contention between Mr Trump and the press.

Question 10 asked if respondents believed “the mainstream media does not do their due diligence fact-checking before publishing stories on the Trump administration?”

Respondents were then asked whether “the media unfairly reported on President Trump’s executive order temporarily restricting people entering our country from nations compromised by radical Islamic terrorism?”

Another asked if the media “has been too eager to jump to conclusions about rumoured stories?”

It did not specify what these rumoured stories were, but Mr Trump has most recently attacked coverage of the resignation of his former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

The retired general was forced to quit the post after it emerged that he had spoken to Sergey Kislyak, Moscow’s ambassador to the US, about the issue of sanctions before taking office.

It is illegal for a private citizen to conduct diplomacy on behalf of the US.

The poll concluded by asking if the Republican Party should “spend more time and resources holding the mainstream media accountable?”

The survey was released shortly after Mr Trump attacked the media at a news conference.

Talking of the recent leaks which led to the resignation of Mr Flynn, the President insisted the information coming from inside his administration was "real", but the news written about them was "fake".

He said: "Well the leaks are real. You’re the one that wrote about them and reported them, I mean the leaks are real. You know what they said, you saw it and the leaks are absolutely real. The news is fake because so much of the news is fake."

He also denied any wrongdoing with Russia and falsely claimed he had the most Electoral College votes since Ronald Reagan.