Donald Trump On Paris ISIS 'Masterminds': 'Call Them Instead Thugs And Losers,' Presidential Candidate Says

Donald Trump is known for critiquing the media, and has said journalists are "among the worst people I've ever met." Now, he's taking aim again, this time calling on the press to stop referring to the planners of last Friday's Paris terror attacks as "masterminds." They instead should be called "thugs and losers," the billionaire and Republican presidential hopeful insisted Friday.

"The media must immediately stop calling ISIS leaders "MASTERMINDS." Call them instead thugs and losers," Trump posted to Twitter. "Young people must not go into ISIS!

In a separate Twitter post, he said:

The tweets come as the media has repeatedly used the word "mastermind" to refer to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a man alleged to have orchestrated last Friday's massacre. The attacks -- claimed by the so-called Islamic State -- left at least 129 people dead and hundreds more wounded, as terrorists coordinated assaults on various sites across Paris, including the national stadium, a concert hall and several restaurants and bars. They were armed with AK-47s and grenades and were wrapped in suicide vests.

Others have also called on the media to refrain from calling Abaaoud a "mastermind" of the attacks, including MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell. "Stop calling Abdelhamid Abaaoud a mastermind. You can call him the ringleader of the attacks. You can call him the organizer of the attacks, but stop glorifying this homicidal maniac who flunked out of high school," O'Donnell said Wednesday.

Abaaoud, 27, was believed to have been linked to as many as four foiled attacks since spring, including a thwarted plot to kill passengers on a Paris-bound high-speed train over the summer. He was killed during a dramatic raid by police while hiding in an apartment in the Saint-Denis suburb of Paris. French police continue to search for others who may have had a hand in Friday night's crimes, and the country remains under a state of emergency.