Trump reporter offers inside scoop
Fahrenthold shares insight on president, news business
David Fahrenthold, a 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner covering one of the hottest beats there is — President Donald Trump’s business interests — visited the Milwaukee Press Club on Friday to receive its 2017 Sacred Cat award, which recognizes excellence in journalism at the national level.
Ahead of his speech, the Washington Post reporter took questions from Press Club members. He described how only after tweeting he was seeking evidence that Trump had given $1 million to veterans groups as Trump had claimed did Trump actually make the donation.
Fahrenthold said that when he asked Trump if he made the donation only because he knew Fahrenthold was asking about it, Trump “called me a nasty guy, that I should be ashamed of myself. He didn’t say no, but he called me a nasty guy.”
Here are some of the other things Fahrenthold shared.
Will Trump stop holding press conferences, as he suggested Friday on Twitter that he might do?
That’s one of the TV shows he gets to program directly. I don’t think he’d ever give that up.
Will Trump use more social media?
I think he’s only learned one technology. If someone shut down Twitter tomorrow and Trump had to get started on some other platform, he’d never do it. And I think the whole country would be different.
On Trump’s relationship with the news media:
He needs us to validate himself. We’re like his most important constituency, but on the other hand he wants people to hate us. It’s a strange mixture. … The thing that’s the most deliberate strategy to me is to have everything be kind of a tornado of news, constant tumult and drama.
On new appreciation for the news media:
I find that people are actually more appreciative of the news media. This has made a lot of people conscious of the role that we play in society. People say, I recognize that the news is valuable; there are some sources that are better than others.
On leaks from the Trump White House:
It’s good in a lot of ways. We get to see inside the White House a lot more thoroughly than we did before. But the problem with it is many of the leaks are so selfserving and people inside are willing to lie about things, even on background, to make themselves look good.
Has news reporting changed behavior by Trump or his people?
The White House spokespeople are more professional now. They will get back to you. Sometimes it’s false, but they will actually respond. The (Trump) campaign didn’t respond.
Will more of Trump’s tax returns ever be revealed?
I do think we will see more of them. But he’s hidden them for so long. Whatever’s in them, he seems to be willing to absorb incredible political consequences to keep his secrets. So, he’s never going to give it up (voluntarily).
Fahrenthold won the Pulitzer for national reporting last month for what the judges said was “persistent reporting that created a model for transparent journalism in political campaign coverage while casting doubt on Donald Trump’s assertions of generosity toward charities.” The stories revealed that Trump had sought credit for charity he had not given — or had claimed other people’s giving as his own.
They also included an article disclosing that Trump had made crude comments and bragged about groping women during an unaired portion of an interview on “Access Hollywood” in 2005.