I’ve pounded Donald Trump several times, and will do so in a column this weekend. But he’s getting unfairly slammed for his position about off-the-record comments he made during in an editorial board meeting with the New York Times.
Based on my more than 20 years experience as a member of the editorial board and as a deputy editorial page editor of The Post, I side with Trump on his position, which is to not discuss his off-the-record meeting with the Times.
I say this from a journalist’s point of view. I learned from my revered editorial page editor, Meg Greenfield, Post owners Katharine Graham and Donald Graham, and former executive editor Len Downie that “off the record” was inviolate. In short, an agreement with a source that comments made during an off-the-record interview will be treated as such means that what you heard was never said and should not be repeated.
If the witness or source wants the comments put on the record in a subsequent interview with journalists, that’s fine. But this is not a journalistic choice.
The shame is that someone at the paper apparently publicly alluded to comments made during an off the record session. Despite how I feel about Trump, I would not have done that to him or anyone else. Neither should have the New York Times leaker.
