In a Friday morning interview with right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt, veteran journalist Bob Woodward said live on-air that if and when his sources agree, he will gladly produce the audio recordings he made in which they shared their impressions of President Donald Trump and relayed stories about the inner-workings of his administration.
“If you one of your sources, who you have taped, comes forward and publicly asks you to release those tapes, would you do so?” Hewitt asked.
“Yes, I think I would,” responded Woodward. “This is meticulously done, trying to cross reference everything and so forth. I would expect somebody would not want to release their information because they’re confidential sources and, as you know, I protect my sources. I think it’s one of the building blocks of journalism and book writing.”
In my interview with @realBobWoodward just concluded, Woodward says “Yes” when I ask him if he would release the tapes of anyone he interviewed who publicly requests he do so. People who say they have been misquoted: Just ask for tapes to be produced. They will be.
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) September 14, 2018
Woodward’s book, as the Huffington Post reports,
is filled with explosive material about President Donald Trump and his administration. Media coverage of the book sparked backlash from the White House even before its release, as excerpts were shared indicating that administration staffers “often have to engage in stealthy behavior to prevent Trump from being impulsive and to minimize disasters that could hurt the president and the country” and that White House chief of staff John Kelly is a hothead.
The White House released a statement calling the book “fake news” and “nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad.”
On Thursday, when asked during an appearance on “CBS This Morning” if he would release the tapes of interviews he recorded, Woodward said, “Well, if somebody really wants to challenge me, of course. Of course. But again, I’ve made agreements with people that these sources are going to remain confidential.”
But as Hewitt noted, in a separate tweet on Friday and referring to White House officials who have denied the accounts, “Seems to me anyone complaining about the book has a remedy: Ask Woodward publicly to release the tapes.”
This article originally posted here.
