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President Trump quoted as an anonymous source just days after demanding a ban on anonymous sources
President Trump was quoted anonymously in a CNN story published Tuesday, BuzzFeed News reports. He was apparently referred to in the article simply as "a senior White House official."
On Friday, Trump insisted "there be no more sources" in news reports after expressing frustration about what he alleged were "very dishonest people." The media "shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name," Trump told the audience at CPAC. "Let their name be put out there. A source says that Donald Trump is a horrible, horrible human being — let them say it to my face."
Attendees of Tuesday's private background meeting between the president and media bigwigs told BuzzFeed News that Trump replied to a question from a Fox News anchor about potentially breaking promises to his base by allowing legal status for certain undocumented immigrants with a comment that there has to be "a softening on both sides. There's got to be a coming together." In CNN's report of the story, the quote is attributed to a "senior White House official."
A person familiar with the terms of the meeting told BuzzFeed News that "reporters were allowed to put some of Trump's comments back on the record at 6 p.m." CNN updated some of the article's language after the embargo to reflect quotes as being from Trump while others were not changed.
It is not the first time Trump has discussed himself via a made-up mouthpiece. In the 1990s, Trump reportedly pretended to be his own publicist on the phone with tabloid reporters in order to boast about himself.