Steve SchmidtVerified account

I am acknowledging this is often hard, but if your reporting says Trump knew about the payment when he told the country he didn’t then he lied. How else would you describe it?

Isn’t that the less important part? the describing it? If the reporting is there, why do we also have to name it? I’m not entirely opposed, by the way. I just want to understand the logic. And as a reporter, I want to be able to apply it equally to everyone.

I appreciate the reply. But honestly I don’t think you would. My guess is that if I called Obama a liar, no matter what evidence I had, you (and Dan) would have insisted there was another explanation or motive. And then it’s a fight over semantics.

I get that press secretaries spin. That’s their job. That’s part of the deal. You don’t need to tell anyone that. But seriously, are you equating the O admin with this one? Does that honestly feel right to you?

And the measure should never be, “well if it was Bush or Obama, you guys would have creamed me for saying someone lied”. It’s simple. People either lie or they don’t. And if u don’t have the judgment or integrity to differentiate, I’m sorry, but u should do something else.

You should be exacting in your writing. You should be merciless in your reporting, though the heavens fall.

I’ve subscribed to the the @nytimes and @washingtonpost for exactly that reason. To hear what reporters find to be the unvarnished truth. If u say to yourself, well if I said this abt @joshearnest someone would have gotten mad at me, so I can’t say it now, u fail your audience