President Trump has a funny relationship with anonymous sources.
On Wednesday morning, the president released a tweetstorm accusing reporters of quoting anonymous sources that "don't even exist." He urged his followers that "when you see 'anonymous source,' stop reading the story, it is fiction!" But on Tuesday night, Trump called a report based on anonymous sourcing "a very big story." And a few years ago — and perhaps even a few days ago — he was one himself.
Trump's tirade on namelessness began in response to a July CNN report, in which "sources" said that ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen knew Trump okayed the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting. But Lanny Davis, Cohen's lawyer, told BuzzFeed News on Monday that one of the anonymous sources CNN cited was him, and that he couldn't actually back up the story.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In a tweet, Trump accused anonymous sources of being "fiction made up by the Fake News reporters." All these tweets sparked fond memories from reporters, particularly The New York Times' Maggie Haberman, who recalled Wednesday how Trump often "anonymously" served up stories about himself to the New York Daily News back in his real estate days. Others recalled how Trump reinvented himself as "John Barron," a "Trump Organization representative," on phone calls with reporters in the 1980s.
Trump continues to speak to reporters off-the-record to this day, The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey pointed out. Sources say it's unclear whether he'll stop.
-
September 6 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include profiting from authoritarianism, and the National Guard entering the CDC
-
Should Britain withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights?Talking Point With calls now coming from Labour grandees as well as Nigel Farage and the Tories, departure from the ECHR 'is starting to feel inevitable'
-
5 outspoken cartoons about Epstein survivors taking center stageCartoons Artists take on cover-ups, Trump surrounded, and more
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
-
Florida aims to end all state vaccine requirementsSpeed Read Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to cut vaccine access and install anti-vaccine activists at the FDA and CDC
-
US kills 11 on 'drug-carrying boat' off VenezuelaSpeed Read Trump claimed those killed in the strike were 'positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists' shipping drugs to the US
-
Trump vows to send federal forces to Chicago, BaltimoreSpeed Read The announcement followed a California judge ruling that Trump's LA troop deployment was illegal
