Trump's 'Fake News Awards' crashes GOP website

Donald Trump finally tweeted to release his "Fake News Awards" Wednesday, but with one problem — no one could see them.

The awards, whatever they might be, are hosted on the Republican Party's official website, GOP.com. Trump tweeted the link to the awards, only to have traffic crash the site.

When it finally went up, after much fanfare, it turned out to be more a list of corrected stories than actual awards.

Trump tweeted in early January that he was planning to announce his "Fake News Awards," and that "Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media." He pushed the release of the awards back to Jan. 17, but even White House officials didn't seem to know if they would happen or what they would entail.

Below is text of the GOP.com post as it should appear, as cached by the Internet Archive before the site went down:

2017 was a year of unrelenting bias, unfair news coverage, and even downright fake news. Studies have shown that over 90% of the media's coverage of President Trump is negative.

Below are the winners of the 2017 Fake News Awards.

2. ABC News' Brian Ross CHOKES and sends markets in a downward spiral with false report.

3. CNN FALSELY reported that candidate Donald Trump and his son Donald J. Trump, Jr. had access to hacked documents from WikiLeaks.

(via Fox News)

4. TIME FALSELY reported that President Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office.

5. Washington Post FALSELY reported the President's massive sold-out rally in Pensacola, Florida was empty. Dishonest reporter showed picture of empty arena HOURS before crowd started pouring in.

– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2017 6. CNN FALSELY edited a video to make it appear President Trump defiantly overfed fish during a visit with the Japanese prime minister. Japanese prime minister actually led the way with the feeding.

7. CNN FALSELY reported about Anthony Scaramucci's meeting with a Russian, but retracted it due to a "significant breakdown in process."

(via washingtonpost.com)

8. Newsweek FALSELY reported that Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda did not shake President Trump's hand.

9. CNN FALSELY reported that former FBI Director James Comey would dispute President Trump's claim that he was told he is not under investigation.

(via WashingtonPost.com)

11. And last, but not least: "RUSSIA COLLUSION!" Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!

Well, now that collusion with Russia is proving to be a total hoax and the only collusion is with Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Russia, the Fake News Media (Mainstream) and this phony new book are hitting out at every new front imaginable. They should try winning an election. Sad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018

While the media spent 90% of the time focused on negative coverage or fake news, the President has been getting results:

2. African Americans and Hispanics are enjoying the lowest unemployment rate in recorded history.

3. The President signed historic tax cuts and relief for hardworking Americans not seen since President Reagan.

4. President Trump's plan to cut regulations has exceeded "2 out for every 1 in" mandate, issuing 22 deregulatory actions for every one new regulatory action.

5. The President has unleashed an American energy boom by ending Obama-era regulations, approving the Keystone pipeline, auctioning off millions of new acres for energy exploration, and opening up ANWR.

6. ISIS is in retreat, having been crushed in Iraq and Syria.

8. With President Trump's encouragement, more member nations are paying their fair share for the common defense in the NATO alliance.

9. Signed the Veterans Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act to allow senior officials in the VA to fire failing employees and establishes safeguards to protect whistleblowers.