New York Times Reporters Just Live-Tweeted Their Meeting With Donald Trump and It Was Surreal
‘In Theory I Could Run My Business Perfectly and Then Run the Country Perfectly. There’s Never Been a Case Like This.’
Donald Trump just concluded his meeting with reporters and editors from The New York Times, at the paper’s Times Square headquarters on 8th Avenue. Trump and the Times have had an especially contentious relationship, since the Manhattan billionaire targets the paper of record any time it publishes a report on him he doesn’t like.
Times reporters live-tweeted the meeting, and it was surreal.
For example:
Trump’s remarks about NYT’s “rough†coverage of him- “I’ve been treated very unfairly”- lasted about 4 min. Now onto reviewing the campaign.
— Mike Grynbaum (@grynbaum) November 22, 2016
But now, Trump says he wants to reset the relationship – hours after calling off the meeting, he reinstated it shortly thereafter.
The tweets reporters were posting were surreal. They paint a portrait of a man who is wholly unaware of his own actions and comments, a man who believes he has far more power than he constitutionally does, a man whose words ring hollow given his previous statements.
Take a look:
Trump claims to have little knowledge of the white supremacists and white nationalists whom he has given power to:
Trump on alt-right supporters: “It’s not a group I want to energize. And if they are energized I want to look into it and find out why.”
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
He claims he can do anything he wants, that the law does not define conflict of interest for a president (he’s incorrect):
Trump on his businesses/conflict q’s: “The law’s totally on my side, the president can’t have a conflict of interest.”
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
“In theory I could run my business perfectly and then run the country perfectly. There’s never been a case like this,”he says of his tangles
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
He says there’s a bit of a connection between man-made climate change and human activity:
“I think there is some connectivity” between humans and climate change, Trump says.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
He walks back Kellyanne Conway’s claim from Tuesday morning that he won’t charge Hillary Clinton. (Note: It’s not within his power to do so.):
Trump says “no” when asked if he is taking investigations off the table for Clintons but adds he doesn’t want to “hurt the Clintons.”
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
Stunningly, he admits to using his position as president-elect to advance his business interests, seems unfazed by it:
“I might have brought it up,” Trump says of Farage meeting and wind farms.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
He reiterates from this morning he has zero intention of liquidating company, establishing blind trust:
What about selling your company? “That’s a really hard thing to do, because I have real estate.”
— Mike Grynbaum (@grynbaum) November 22, 2016
The Huffington Post’s Senior media reporter Michael Calderone posted these images:
The New York Times awaits Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/obmoA5M3oJ
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) November 22, 2016
Trump leaves the Times pic.twitter.com/KU1pTaUjXt
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) November 22, 2016
Got some cheers and boos from members of the public waiting in there Times lobby. https://t.co/Va39hqDpQt
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) November 22, 2016
And a note from the Times’ senior editor Patrick LaForge:
NYT lobby is public, and some people there booed President-Elect Trump on his way out. They don’t work for us.
— Patrick LaForge (@palafo) November 22, 2016Â
Bye NYT pic.twitter.com/SvfJAjv1KQ
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) November 22, 2016
Take a look at these two reports from earlier today about Trump’s meeting with the Times:Â
BREAKING: Trump Suggests That Legally, Nothing He Can Do Is a Conflict of Interest
Trump Disavows White Supremacists and White Nationalists but Defends Their Man in His Administration
UPDATE: 4:15 PM EST –
Via NY Times media reporter: Trump had called the Times “failing,” among other things. Now:
The President-elect’s parting message: The New York Times is “a world jewel. And I hope we can all get along.”
— Mike Grynbaum (@grynbaum) November 22, 2016
A view of lunch in the NYT boardroom, prior to Trump’s arrival. pic.twitter.com/dQUWIofzdD
— Mike Grynbaum (@grynbaum) November 22, 2016
Trump tells NYT one way he might measure his presidency: pic.twitter.com/jM33jiHd3y
— Mike Grynbaum (@grynbaum) November 22, 2016
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