Matt Drudge, the conservative blogger behind the Drudge Report, made a rare statement Saturday to defend his website after President Donald Trump ripped him on Twitter earlier in the day.
“The past 30 days has been the most eyeballs in Drudge Report’s 26 year-history,” Drudge told CNN via email. “Heartbreaking that it has been under such tragic circumstances.”
Drudge’s rare comment came after Trump tweeted on Saturday morning, “I gave up on Drudge (a really nice guy) long ago, as have many others. People are dropping off like flies!”
CNN reported that data given to them directly from the Drudge Report’s server showed a major increase in traffic in the month of March — 1.2 billion page views, up from 781 million page views the month prior.
The Drudge Report launched in 1995 and is credited for being the first site to report on the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton scandal in 1998 after the story was spiked by Newsweek. The site’s coverage was initially favorable to Trump in the early days of his presidency but has since taken a more critical view of him, much to Trump’s dismay.
Trump last made reference to Matt Drudge in February, saying he was “starting to treat me good again. He’s starting to like me again. I like him.”