MYSTERY LEAKER

Bloomberg News Didn't Leak Trump's Off-The-Record NAFTA Comments: Reporter

“The president is incorrect when he claims he was wronged by his interviewers.”

The reporter who published inflammatory comments made by President Trump in an off-the-record interview with Bloomberg took to Twitter to push back against Trump’s attempt to blame the outlet that interviewed him, according to the Toronto Star. The drama began Thursday, when Trump gave an interview to Bloomberg News in which he reportedly said off-the-record that he would not make any compromises with Canada during their upcoming NAFTA negotiations. The Toronto Star somehow got wind of that comment and published it Friday, which led Trump to claim that his interviewers at Bloomberg leaked his statement to the Star and committed a serious journalistic violation. “Wow, I made OFF THE RECORD COMMENTS to Bloomberg concerning Canada, and this powerful understanding was BLATANTLY VIOLATED,” Trump tweeted Friday. “Oh well, just more dishonest reporting.”

But the Star reporter in question, Daniel Dale, attempted to exculpate his colleagues at Bloomberg with his Saturday tweet. “I don’t want to be party to the president’s smearing of excellent, ethical journalists,” Dale wrote. “So I can say this: none of the Bloomberg interviewers was my source.” He didn’t divulge any more information about the source—leaving the true identity of the leaker a mystery.